Life Is Worth Living
by NKSCF
Summary: Before the turn of the millennium, Sara Ringwalt and Matthew King are captured by members of Hellywood and forced to fight for their own survival in a world slowly withering away, while a month later Shūzo Matsutani seeks to gain Lala-Ru's freedom.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Hello, everyone. This is the first fic I've started on in a long time, so I hope you enjoy it. Basically this is _Now and Then, Here and There_ from the viewpoint of an original character as he tries to figure out how to escape safely from _Hellywood_. Please let me know if there are any grammatical and/or continuity errors, as I would greatly appreciate the help in keeping this as close to the original source as possible.

Part I: This Good Day

Chapter 1

They used to say that the world was supposed to end at the beginning of the new millennium thanks to the Y2K bug, but I never found out, seeing as how I didn't make it past September 1999 in my world. For all I know it did end the world.

It was just any old day, you know: I got dressed, went to school, and decided to finish the day by taking Sara out to dinner before she had to pick up her father and head home for the night.

Sorry for the poor introduction, my name is Matthew King. Call me Matt, though, it makes me happy. I'm the heir to the Royal King Cigarette Company. Well, at least I was the heir, until I got dragged away from home with my girlfriend to the far-flung and desolate future of what I assume is Earth by a sadistic madman's personal flunky in an attempt to find a mysterious girl who's been on the Earth for a very long time because she possesses a pendant that holds water which is quite valuable in a world where the Sun has dried up the majority of the planet's water supply.

Trust me, it makes sense in context.

And there I go rambling. You'll have to forgive me; sometimes I start off on one path and end up fifteen minutes later on some tangent.

Maybe if I try to wind things down a bit this will all make sense.

Once again my name is Matt and I was born and raised in San Diego, California with my family. Along with my girlfriend, Sara Ringwalt, I was taken thousands—most likely millions guessing by the coloration of the sun now—of years into what I can only guess is the future of the planet Earth and this is my story of how it happened.

Like I was saying earlier, it was a simple day with nothing out of the ordinary happening. Well, actually, now that I think about it, there was something unusual. You see, I'm two years older than Sara and, at the time, she had just turned sixteen, while I was about to head out of high school and into college. The date was supposed to be in celebration of her sixteenth birthday, and, like usual, I was going to drive her to wherever we were going and then drop her back off at home. However, today was a different story, seeing as she'd skipped school in order to get her driver's license, and her father had bought her a sweet red '00 Ford Mustang GT, right off the assembly line, which she wanted to drive over to meet me at the restaurant I'd gotten reservations for that day. I was surprised to say the least, but kind of intrigued at the prospect on being near a brand-new Mustang, so I told her it was fine and that I couldn't wait to meet her there.

I had some news of my own to tell her, but I wanted to keep it a secret until we met that night, because it was something I was immensely proud of. I also had a gift I'd later regret giving.

So, at six-thirty that evening, I waited patiently at the House of Blues right on 5th Avenue for Sara to arrive, which she did, looking as dazzling as the first day I'd met her. Myself, I'm a simple guy, and dressing up isn't exactly my forte. I always look pathetic compared to her. Sara's sixteen years old, has amazing blonde hair, shimmering blue eyes, and is about three inches shorter than me. She's quite beautiful, but I'm biased, so I'll let you decide for yourself if she is or not.

I smiled at her and asked, "How was the drive?"

Sara beamed at me and said, "It was amazing. I know I had my learner's permit for a while, but that's nothing compared to riding around by yourself."

"Oh yeah, I remember when I first got my license. I had the same feelings."

"Thanks for letting me come by myself, Matt. I know you like driving me around, so I really appreciate it."

"No problem, sweetheart," I said. "It's not like I own you or anything; you're free to do whatever feels best."

And so it continued for a small amount of time, with us discussing her upcoming plans on joining the swimming team at the school and how her friend had gotten a free ride to UCLA.

At the mention of UCLA I grinned, saying, "That's great, Sara. I'll bet she'll have a great time there."

"What are you smiling about?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing, just the thought of UCLA made me remember something I've been dying to tell you."

"And what was that?"

"You know how bad I've wanted to go to Stanford because I wanted to be a part of the engineering section, right?"

"Yeah, you were afraid you wouldn't get in, family ties or not."

I produced an envelope from my pocket and gave it to her. Sara opened and then cheered, "You got accepted! That's wonderful, Matt!"

"Why thank you. But that's hardly the reason I'm so happy tonight."

Sara furled her left eyebrow. "Why are you so happy then? What could be more important than this?"

Once more I gathered something from my pocket and placed it in her hands. Sara, seeing it was a small case stereotypically associated with jewelry, took it and smiled, as she opened it, finding an aqua pendant. Overjoyed, she thanked me and let me place it around her neck.

"Happy birthday, Sara," I said, grinning.

So sue me for being a sap, but I love my girlfriend. Have for a long time. Her happiness is key to my life and I was getting worried that we wouldn't work out once I headed off to college, so I at least wanted to give her something to remember me by if things between us just didn't work. It cost me a lot, but that pendant was more than worth it, seeing as how Sara really seemed to appreciate it.

"You shouldn't have," Sara said, looking at me.

I returned the gaze. "Well of course I didn't have to, but I wanted to, sweetheart. I saw it one day when I just happened to be looking for jewelry for a certain someone, and immediately thought she'd like it. Looks like I was right."

Sara opened her mouth to speak, but then her watch started to beep. She sighed and realized that it was getting close to eight o'clock.

"I'm sorry, Matt, but I've got to go," she said. "I promised my Dad I'd pick him up from work and I can't drive past nine now."

I shrugged. "Don't worry about it, Sara. A promise is a promise. I wanted to see the new car anyways."

I'm an easy-going guy; I don't get worked up over the little things in life, so if I'm with someone and they need to go somewhere else, I don't mind. World doesn't revolve around me, as much as I'd like to think it does sometimes.

Sara led me outside after I paid the bill and brought me to the car, which didn't disappoint. Man that thing was awesome. I touched the hood, felt how smooth it was and smiled, as I turned to see Sara, who was immensely proud of herself.

"Nice ride," I said simply. "Makes me wish my dad didn't stick me with the old Lamborghini."

Sara laughed. "Oh, come on, Matt, you know that Lamborghini looks a million times better than this."

"Maybe you think so, but Lamborghinis are completely impractical. It's just a rich person's car. This on the other hand will get you places. If I didn't have to worry about a premature heart attack I'd take this Mustang out for a spin."

I laughed, but Sara didn't return the sentiment. She'd never approved of my brand of morbid humor. You see I suffer from a rare disorder that would have never shown up in my life if it hadn't been for a massive amount of stupidity on my part. The medical term for what I have is cardiac arrhythmia, or a fancy way of saying that my heart no longer acts the right way and now either beats too fast or too slow that depends on what I'm doing at the time. Chances are I won't live a very long life, but, once I found out about that fact, I pushed it aside, took my medicine, and joked about it to calm my own nerves. Sara doesn't appreciate my lack of discretion and, if I were a better man, I'd drop the subject entirely, but unfortunately I'm a jocular guy and I pretend to not even know what the word discreet means.

"Sorry, Sara," I said to cool things down. "I didn't mean to ruin your birthday by bringing that up."

To her credit, all Sara did was roll her eyes and say, "It's fine, Matt. If anything I think I'm getting used to it." She paused. "Not that I want to." She added.

"And you'll never have to sweet—" I started to say, but then I noticed something strange behind Sara: A bird completely motionless in the air.

"What?" Sara asked. "What's wrong?"

I pointed to the bird and she gasped upon seeing its stillness, while I was busy looking across the street, wondering what the heck was going on. Two passersby were locked in a state of suspended animation that looked immensely uncomfortable. Next to them was a streetlight that was halfway between turning from yellow to red.

"What's that noise?" Sara asked, breaking me out of my stupor.

I listened to figure out what she was going on about and felt an odd sensation go up from my legs to my spine. I wondered if I was facing some new form of heart attack I'd yet to witness, but then I found Sara responding in much the same way. Reaching for my pills just in case I was wrong, I was blinded by a massive flood of bright whiteness. Instinctively, I reached around for Sara and found her near me, and I grasped her arm. Opening my eyes a moment later, my vision returned and I witnessed the beginning of the end of my old life: Right in front of Sara and me were two serpentine robots with two men inside each one guiding their motions. Beneath the robots was a woman with purple hair, military fatigues I didn't recognize, and a gun in her hand.

"We've finally found you, Lala-Ru," she said, offering a satisfied smirk.

"What in God's name is going on here?" I asked. "And who the heck is Lala-Ru?"

"Seize her!"

Before either Sara or me could react, the closest serpent machine reached for Sara and grabbed her. She squealed in response and hit the metallic robot, but nothing she did halted its assault. Gathering my senses, I reached for my taser—a gift from my father—and, not fully understanding why, I pointed it near an opening on what I assumed was the cockpit of the snake and fired, with the end of the wire ricocheting off the glass I'd forgot to compensate for and ending up inside the cockpit where they shocked its occupant. The robot shook for a moment and eventually let go of Sara, who was nearly fifteen feet in the air. I jumped to her and managed to soften at least her impact. Mine, on the other hand, had a little more incidents involving cement. Very hard cement I might add. I landed face first in the sidewalk, ruining the skin of my left cheek.

Sara managed to end up landing in the mulch surrounding the palm trees outside the House of Blues. She suffered a couple minor scrapes, but nothing compared to what I went through.

Somehow I ignored the pain coursing through my face and stood up to face our attackers, as I restored my taser in case I needed to fire it again. "I don't know who you are or what a Lala-Ru is, but what I do know is that you better stay the hell away from my girlfriend!"

The woman seemed quite amused at my outburst and somewhat impressed by my attack on the serpentine monolith. "What bravado in the face of King Hamdo's might," she said, pissing me off at every word. "You would make an excellent soldier, but to do so you must return Lala-Ru to us now or suffer the consequences."

Sara, recovered from her fall, stood beside me, and tried to beckon me to flee with her, but I was so filled with rage at the assault that I wouldn't listen to reason. "Please, Matt, let's go," Sara pleaded. "We've got to find the police; they'll handle this."

"That's right, Lala-Ru," the woman said. "Go ahead and flee like you did before, but we will just find you again."

"I'm not Lala-Ru!" Sara shrieked. "You've got the wrong person! Leave us alone right now!"

I began to wish that I had a better idea of what was going on right now. I figured that these strange futuristic machines handled by even stranger soldiers were being led by this woman to find some girl that apparently looked enough like Sara to cause a case of mistaken identity. All I knew for sure, though, was that I wasn't going to let them take Sara away to wherever they came from to find that out, nor was I going to let them find the person they were looking for either.

"Nice try, Lala-Ru, but the pendant gives you away," the woman declared. "Get her."

Then I heard a loud thump as something landed behind us. It looked like the thing that Sigourney Weaver had used to kill the alien queen in _Aliens_, except a whole lot more menacing. The right arm swiped at me and I fell to the ground in response, all the while starting to feel telltale signs of a heart attack.

_No, not now!_ I thought. _Anytime but now! Please don't happen now! I've got to get Sara out of here first! _

My body, however, refused to agree with me, and I realized I'd die if I didn't swallow some pills. Hastily I gathered them from my coat pocket and gulped them, just in time to hear Sara's pleads for help.

"Matt!" she cried out. "Help me!"

I rose up, ignoring my assured demise at causing my heart to fluctuate and then charged the behemoth, intending to stun its pilot just like I'd done earlier. Unfortunately, my adversaries had learned from their past mistakes and the other serpentine craft, which I'd all but forgotten about, grabbed me from behind and started to crush me. Gasping for air, I continued to hear Sara begging for help, and barely noticed her taking a swipe at the driver of the machine holding her. Her blow connected, but hit the man controlling the robot on his helmet, doing little to no damage. Yelling at my inability to get out of my predicament, I placed my taser in the one hand I had that was relatively free and fired at the woman in charge of this godforsaken operation. Surprised at my tenacity, she barely got out of the way in time to miss my taser, while I cursed my poor aim. The driver of the machine holding me prisoner moved it towards the woman in an attempt to keep her safe, and loosened its hold on me, allowing me to slip through.

The moment I landed on the ground following a five-foot drop, I clutched my chest, knowing that none of my actions were helping my anti-arrhythmic drugs from doing their job, but I also knew that I'd rather let them fail to save me than for Sara to get taken away against her will.

I dashed toward Sara, who had finally landed a damaging blow to her captor in the gut, and fell to the ground, hurting her right leg. However, the moment I reached her, I heard the sound of a gun cocking and it was pointed straight at Sara's head. Stopping, I accidentally dropped my taser and looked in horror as the woman with purple hair stood over Sara with her gun pointed in a surefire way to kill her.

"You have fought valiantly, boy, but you must learn that no one may oppose King Hamdo for long," she said, grabbing up Sara by the hair. "Take us back now!" she ordered her fellows.

I mulled over my options, trying to find a way where at least Sara made it out of there okay, but every scenario I found ended with Sara dead. My body slowed down in response to my inability to move freely, letting me at least know that I would not have to face a heart attack now.

Sara looked at me, tears in her eyes, and said, "Just leave, Matt. Save yourself."

Noble as she wanted my escape to be, I refused to accept that outlet of freedom, mostly because I felt that if I did, I'd never see Sara again. I stood still, waiting to figure out what exactly "Take us back now" meant. I was rewarded with a flash of whiteness, the same from before, and then I entered a world far removed from my own.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The whiteness faded away once I found myself in a room of futuristic design and I fell to the ground upon noticing that I had ended up being…transported I guess into this odd place. Grunting the moment my back hit the floor, I felt a sharp pain enter my spine, but mercifully my heart seemed to not notice the great disturbance. Opening my eyes, I found that parts of 5th Avenue had been taken with us. I suddenly recalled exactly what had brought me there and frantically searched the room for Sara, but the purple-haired woman had already taken care of her.

The gun still pointed to Sara's head, the woman handed her off to another soldier, saying, "Take this one to King Hamdo. Leave the spare to me."

"Yes, Lady Abelia," the other soldier said, saluting and naming my adversary for the first time since we'd met.

Abelia. I hated the name the moment I heard it.

Sara, to her credit, tried to get away from him, but the other soldier twisted her arm around to her back and elicited a cry of pain from her. Another soldier, also male, hit her in the back of the head with his rifle, almost knocking her out.

"Leave her alone!" I roared, hating myself for only being able to shout in Sara's defense.

What could I have done? Where the heck was I? What had just happened? Are these people some kind of terrorists? Where are they from? If that's the case, how can I understand them all? Surely they don't all speak English. I speak fluent Japanese and German, and I can also understand Latin somewhat, but I've been tutored in them since an early age, so what was their excuse?

All the above were what went through my mind at that moment and I was about to learn the majority of them in the coming moments.

"You idiots!" Abelia shouted. "If King Hamdo finds out what you've done, he'll kill us all! Lala-Ru is not to be harmed!"

I picked myself up off the floor, praying for some divine help in discovering what I should do, but it seems all I picked up was a busy signal, so all I did was stand in place. Sara, meanwhile, nursed the back of her head with her right hand, and tried to get back up, but fell to the floor. The soldier who hadn't hit her picked Sara up and cleaned up the blood that was slowly gushing out at the point of impact.

_Who is this Lala-Ru person she keeps going on about?_ I wondered. _She must look like Sara because Abelia acts like they're the same. _

"I see you've dyed your hair, girl," Abelia said, checking Sara over for anymore noticeable marks or bruises. "Did you honestly think we wouldn't be able to get past this pathetic disguise?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sara protested. "My name is Sara. Sara Ringwalt. I don't know who Lala-Ru is. Please let us go back home."

"You're certainly more talkative than usual," Abelia noted. "Take her away, and this time do not harm her or I shall personally send you out into the desert to die. Also, if King Hamdo is not there in his room, then you shall wait for him to come inside. He does not like it when others seek him out, no matter how important the situation."

_So we're near a desert, _I thought. _Either that or in one. Hmm, we could still be in the US, so that would explain the English. That still doesn't explain how we were just in San Diego and now we're…wherever we are._

"You!" Abelia shouted, pointing at me.

Instinctively I tensed up, watching in vain as Sara was led away by her captors. I stared Abelia right in the eye and glared.

She smirked, intensifying my glare. "I admire the ferocity behind your eyes, boy. What is your name?"

"Richard Bachman, but my friends call me Stephen King," I said, smirking.

If I couldn't be in charge of the physical world around me, I could at least control my sarcasm. At the very least I'd been honest about my surname.

"Something tells me you're lying to me," Abelia said. She lifted her handgun and aimed it at me. "Hands in the air. Make this easy on the both of us."

I almost said something about how easy her mother was last night, but common sense prodded me to lift my hands in the air and not say a word. What use would I have been to Sara if I'd gotten myself killed for being an imbecile?

Seeing my defiance was slowly draining away, Abelia approached me and placed handcuffs on my hands and forced me out of the room.

"Where's Sara?" I demanded to know.

"_Lala-Ru_," Abelia corrected me, "is going to talk to King Hamdo and she will do as he demands or suffer the consequences."

_Okay, so whoever's leading these terrorists or whatever thinks he can call himself a king, eh? _I thought. _Who could these people be? They don't sound like the Sons of the Constitution or, what's the name of those Arabic guys in Afghanistan? Al-Osama or some other thing? _

"And what does that mean?"

"Quiet!" Abelia ordered.

I shut my mouth. Obviously Abelia was some sort of high-ranking member of the terrorists. It'd be best if I limited my questions, but I had to ask one more.

"Where are you taking me?"

"The Hospitality Room," Abelia said.

For some reason the definition of the word hospitality seemed to have changed since the last time I checked. Me, being an idiot, however, I said, "Ooh, cool, I'll have a martini, shaken, not stirred."

"Shut up."

I received a smack on the back of the head. Unable to rub the wound due to the bondage of my hands, I gritted my teeth together and held in the pain.

Let me explain something about myself real quickly before I continue. I was the true epitome of the word wuss. I was terrible at sports and other physical activity, mostly because of the fact that I despise getting hurt. I just can't deal with the way normal people do. My dad used to make fun of me all the time whenever he tried to get me to go play outside. Not in a cruel way, just kind of a "Come on, son, you can deal with it better than that" way. For some reason now I'm not as bad as I was.

Abelia led me to a room with a sign on it that I couldn't make out. It had some weird symbols that looked faintly Arabic in design, but that was impossible. The people here obviously had no connection to an Arabic nation, unless the transporter thing had somehow taken us several thousand miles to such a country without killing us. Then I wondered how in the world they even had this technology in the first place; they were light-years ahead of what we had. Were Sara and I the captives of some alien race who looked human? Or maybe they were some form of futuristic humans who had come back in the past to find this Lala-Ru person for some unknown reason?

_Gah, I hate this,_ I thought. _I have no idea what's going in!_

Walking inside the room, I found a seat straight out of _Frankenstein _awaiting me to sit in it. To the right was a brute of a man cleaning something that looked suspiciously like a scalpel. He was disfigured and almost caused me to gag when I looked at him.

"Please, take a seat," the brute said, gesturing me to do so, as Abelia uncuffed me, and forced me on the chair. The man clamped me down with the metal bars on the chair before I could make a run for it, and then placed restraints on me.

Abelia situated herself before me, holding her hands on her hips.

"What am I supposed to do?" the brute asked.

"Only what I tell you to," Abelia said.

"You know, babe, I'm not really into this whole bondage thing, so if we can cut to the sex part I'd be fine with that," I said, feigning confidence.

Abelia slapped me. "Silence! The only reason the two of us can speak on the same level now is because of the translation device implanted inside of my ear. It's time you got yours, too. Surely you've noticed you can't understand our written language. If you are to be useful to King Hamdo, you must be well-rounded."

"Come again?"

I looked at the brute, who brought a collection of crude surgical tools near me.

"Oh, oh no," I said. "Listen, I think I understand everything perfectly now. Let's not get too hasty, I like to take it slow."

"Then start talking. For every time that I suspect you are lying, Schmerz here will operate on you worse than he should. Normally the placement of the translator is a simple ordeal and very little pain is involved. However, you shall not be receiving the drugs that we normally supply to dull the pain. Now why did Lala-Ru choose you to protect her?"

"For the last time I don't know who Lala-Ru is!" I protested. "The girl you took is Sara Ringwalt! I've known her for two years!"

"Schmerz, begin."

Schmerz, that's German for pain. What sick bastard names their kid Schmerz?

I screamed as Schmerz began his operation. I could feel the blood coursing down the right side of my head. It felt like he was drilling right through my head, but I couldn't hear a drilling sound, so whatever he used defied my ability to place it. After a moment of writhing in pain, Schmerz quit, and let me slowly regain mental clarity.

Abelia came closer to me and asked, "Who are you?"

"My name is Matthew King," I whimpered. "Look, if it's money you're after, I can get you millions. My father's a rich man. He'll pay any ransom for Sara and me."

"What is this 'money'? I recognize rich, but this 'money' of yours eludes me."

"How can you not know what money means? What kind of third-world country did you grow up in? Everyone uses money. It's how you buy things. You know, with like paper or coins."

"Aha, so that's what you meant, Matthew," Abelia said, drawing back to think her next words through. "I see the people of the past were fools. How could this money ever be more important than water?"

"Water? What is wrong with you guys? Water's everywhere. There's no way we would use it as currency. That's stupid."

_Wait,_ I thought, _did she mention "people of the past"? Are we in the future?_

"Are you insane, boy?" Abelia raged. "Water is the most important resource on this planet! Nothing can exist without it!"

"Well, yeah," I said. "If we don't get enough we die. So just drink some and move on with your life."

"Begin again, Schmerz."

"Wait! What did I do wrong h—Argh!"

Schmerz started his project anew, leaving me to beg and plead for him to stop. The magnitude of the pain was unimaginable.

A millennium later, Schmerz ceased his efforts to insert the translator and I eased up my tense muscles. I felt my heart act up and I froze, trying to get it to relax. I needed my medicine. If this kept up I was a dead man.

"Please…you've got to give me my medicine," I managed to say. "If…you don't, then I'll…die. My heart…can't take much more."

Abelia stared me down and then barked an order for Schmerz to check my vitals. He went to a machine nearby and hit a few seemingly random buttons. Numbers flashed up on the screen and more words I didn't recognize appeared beside them. Schmerz then looked at Abelia and nodded. She looked disgusted.

"Where is it?" she asked.

"Wh-What?" I said.

"Your medicine, you fool!"

I yelped in fear. "My left pocket. They're in my left pocket."

Abelia nodded to Schmerz to check my pockets. Schmerz's malformed spindly fingers entered my pocket and found my pills. He presented them to Abelia, who then snatched them out of his hands and took one out, holding it in her palm.

"Can't I at least get some water to help swallow it?" I asked, not knowing the severity of my question.

Abelia huffed and force-fed the pill to me. I almost gagged at the sudden move, but managed to use my saliva to swallow it. Coughing, I aggravated the wound on the side of my head and felt trinkets of blood march down my ear. My slowed reaction made my heart enter the placebo effect, and I began to feel less pain in my chest. However, the incision on the side of my head offered no release.

"There, now you will answer my questions without further delay, boy," Abelia said.

I nodded.

"Now I will ask you again, why did Lala-Ru choose to seek you out for shelter? How much do you know about her?"

"Don't get me wrong, because I'm speaking with a hundred percent truth, but I still don't know about Lala-Ru or why she's so important. If I could help you out, then I would, but I have no idea what you're talking about. Please don't hurt me."

_God, please God don't let me die here, _I requested. _I know I never come to You in prayer unless I want something, but this time I need something. Please keep me alive long enough to get Sara to safety. I'll do whatever You want me to, I swear._

"Schmerz, again."

I tensed up once more, as Schmerz began his cranial work. I cried out in pain as he placed what I could only assume was the translator. I screamed into the darkness of the room, with only two other people to hear me, and neither cared.

Unfortunately, a device near the direction I thought Abelia was at crackled to life, "Abelia, I need you to explain something for me."

It was a surprisingly soothing voice. A man's voice. I felt at ease when I heard it, and my body responded in kind by slightly calming down. However, there was something I felt behind the voice that felt wrong at the same time. The voice was such a mass array of contradictions that I wondered if I was going mad. Turns out it wasn't me I should've been worrying about going crazy. You may wonder why I said unfortunately earlier; I'll let the following explain why, even though it was as much a boon as a bane to me.

Adjusting my eyes to locate the source, I saw Abelia pick up a walkie-talkie like device and say, "Yes, King Hamdo. What is it you need, sir?"

_So that's who it is, _I thought, trying to keep myself coherent.

"Abelia, I was under the impression that you were going out to catch Lala-Ru," the voice of King Hamdo said.

"Yes, sir, King Hamdo. I sent her to your room."

"Abelia, what color is Lala-Ru's hair?"

Abelia paused for a while, but then said, "Blue, sir, but it seems that she dyed—"

"No, Abelia, it is always blue!" the madman on the other side raged. "Would you mind telling me why a little girl named Sara is here instead of Lala-Ru?"

"Sir, I thought that she had disguised herself in an effort to throw off the search. Is she not her, sir?"

"Obviously not, since the pendant she owns isn't the one we need!"

"Could she have hidden it somewhere, sir?"

I had to admit, Abelia managed to keep her cool. She must be used to this by now.

"No, Abelia…_THIS IS NOT LALA-RU!_" Hamdo thundered.

"Told you so," I said, spitting blood that entered my mouth from the odd position of my face on the floor.

"Who is that?" Hamdo asked. "Who dares talk in my presence?"

"The boy we caught along with the girl, King Hamdo," Abelia said. "I was busy interrogating him for information."

"For no reason it seems."

Abelia paused. "Yes, sir, for no reason."

"You have just tortured a potential new soldier for my army?"

"King Hamdo, it would have been that way, had I not found out that the boy has a rare disease. One that we can treat now with the plants in your garden, but I don't think he could ever last long enough to make a difference on the battlefield in his condition."

"I see…then kill him."

"Wait, what?" I said, trying to get out of my restraints.

"No!" came Sara's voice from the other side. "Don't hurt him too!"

I heard the sounds of a punch connecting and Sara spoke no more.

"What should I do with the girl then, sir?" Abelia asked.

"Hmm…she seems serviceable enough," Hamdo said. "She shall be assigned to entertainment services. We do seem to keep running out of them as time goes by. They never seem to last long."

_Entertainment services? _I thought. _What could he mean by—Oh my God no!_

"Um, King Hamdo, sir, may I offer a suggestion?" I asked.

_Please work, please work, please let this work. I can't let her go through that. _

"What could you possibly offer me, boy?" Hamdo asked.

I gulped. "Where I come from, my father used to work in our army. I used to visit him all the time and he'd let me look at all of our war machines. Over time I started to think that maybe what I wanted to do with my life was work on building them. I have some experience as an engineer."

"Get to the point!"

"I can work on anything you bring to me! I can even show you some things you probably don't have and let you have those too! You'd be invincible! Abelia, tell him about the taser!"

"The what?" Abelia asked.

"The thing I used to stun that one pilot! I just now noticed how you looked at it! You've never seen something like that before!"

I was lying through my teeth. My father had been in the military and I had seen some people working on tanks and stuff, but I'd hardly spent anytime working on them. My specialty was cars. And I hadn't even looked at Abelia's face when I first fired my taser. I was stalling; hoping for a way out.

"He speaks some truth, King Hamdo," Abelia said. "This 'taser' of his managed to electrify one of our men and put him out of commission. It could prove useful for any reconnaissance missions we went on. This way we could avoid shooting and giving away out positions. Who knows what else he could give us?"

There was a long pause. I hate pauses. Anything can go wrong during them.

"And what would you like in return?" Hamdo asked an eternity later.

"I'll do whatever you want, sir, but please don't hurt Sara," I said. "Let her go back home. I promise you that you won't regret, my king."

I prayed. I prayed harder than I ever had in my life, and, for once it seemed, the good Lord decided to answer.

"That's it?" Hamdo asked. "One girl's return over building and improving the war machines of _Hellywood_? Ha-ha, it's so easy. Boy, what is your name?"

"Matthew King, sir. However, the King isn't for royalty; it's just my last name. I mean no disrespect."

"Good, because if it did, I would kill her and force you to work for me. However, she stays to keep you compliant, but she will not be harmed. You start in the morning."

"Yes, sir!" I said, sealing my own personal deal with the devil.

"Abelia?"

"Yes, King Hamdo?"

"Find Lala-Ru. Oh, and I am going to need a new connector."

As sounds of a connector—which I guessed at the time was what they called the walkie-talkies—being destroyed in the background came to life, Abelia said, "Yes, sir."

I breathed a sigh of relief. Sara was momentarily safe. I didn't care about the fact that I'd basically sold myself into slavery. She wasn't going home like I'd wanted, but she was fine nonetheless. I almost forgot about the pain on the side of my head.

"Take him to the brig, but give him the drugs first," Abelia ordered. "I will make sure the girl is brought there safely before you reach it. You better not be bluffing."

_Does half-bluffing count? _I thought. _I mean there's no way I can pull this out without some major help. I barely understand the parts of engineering I do know. What am I saying? I can get through this. I'm better at engineering than that. Dang pessimism._

Schmerz let go of my restraints and placed my medicine back in my pockets, as he lifted me over his back. The sudden movements made me lose consciousness and I drifted away into dreamless sleep.

* * *

The moment I regained consciousness, I was thrown into a dark and musty room with only one way for outside light to enter. I grunted the moment I hit the ground, but I was not in pain for some reason; I felt like I was flying and that the ground was just an illusion. It was then that I realized Abelia had drugged me to get rid of the pain.

Sudden movement to my left alerted me to the presence of another in the room, and I opened my eyes, seeing a battered Sara kneeling over me, tears in her eyes.

"Matt, Matt, what happened to you, Matt?" she asked.

I mumbled something incoherent and started to giggle, but the remaining reason in my body stopped me. "Beat me up…they thought I knew you were Lala-Ru. Kept on saying…I didn't know her. Beat me up…put a thing in my head. Hurts."

"Oh my God, your face is all messed up."

I realized she was only looking at the half that had been messed up during the initial attack back home. I lifted myself off the ground and looked at her, barely keeping my head up. She stared at me with horror on her face.

"What?" I said. "Izzit the holes on the right or something? That's okay, man. I'm holy now, ha-ha."

"Your hair, Matt, it's not black anymore: It's white!"

I froze, but then reached out for a small strand of hair and plucked it out. What I saw was a clearly white lock staring back at me as I gasped. I'd heard reports of people under great amounts of stress losing the natural coloration of their hair in favor of white, but surely the biological processes for doing so wouldn't work this quickly. So far as I knew scientists and doctors were still debating on whether or not it was true. All I knew was that my hair wasn't the same color it'd been a couple hours ago.

"Matt, what's happening?" Sara asked, drawing close to me. I placed a hand over her shoulder, wondering how to answer the question. "Why are they doing this to us? Where the hell are we?"

"Something called _Hellywood_," I said, repeating the term King Hamdo had used. "Apparently the future near some desert and I get the feeling people really like water. For some reason they want this pendant that Lala-Ru has…" I paused and stared at Sara for a moment, and realized it was my fault she was here the moment I saw the pendant I had just gave her hours before.

"What?" Sara asked. "What is it?"

I cried; I couldn't help it. This whole thing was my fault. The drugs didn't help my mood either.

I cried myself to sleep in Sara's arms.

All of this happened in the span of one day's time.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: This may be the last chapter I can write before Thursday at the earliest. I am swarmed with finals and won't be free until Thursday, when I leave college for home for winter break. I may or may not have time to write then, it all depends on what happens when I get there. However, if there is anything you'd like to know or correct with this, feel free to leave a review or message me, as I will periodically check to see if someone has. Thanks.

Part II: Back in the Day

Chapter 3

Life sucks. There, I just summed up the existence of every man, woman, and child in two words.

Life is unfair, it takes no sides, and its goal is to allow the person under its power to exist until his or her time on this world is over.

Don't get me wrong, I rather enjoy life now, but only because I have a massive appreciation for it, seeing as I've almost died several times over the course of a couple months. Without Lala-Ru, without Sis, without Shu, and without Sara, I never would have made it through this far.

I lived what you might call a prestigious life as a kid. I mentioned earlier how I was the heir to the fortune of a cigarette empire, one that had been in my family since before good ole Teddy Roosevelt thought it'd be a good idea to trust bust us. I was born in 1981 to my father—Levi King, current head of the company—and my mother—Janice King—and immediately entered a life of privilege. I was loaded let me tell ya. Living with two multimillionaires certainly helped. It's a cliché, but I was groomed from an early age for success. The best schools, the best teachers, and the best anything you can name and I had it.

Thank God my parents weren't your stereotypical rich snobs, otherwise this story never would have happened the same way.

My parents were devout Baptists and by devout, I mean they believed in every sense of the word. God became the center of my life from practically the moment I was born. Mom and Dad were constantly trying to get me involved in church and learning that our wealth was a blessing from God and that we needed to share it with others. I recall one day early in my life when my parents were being interviewed by a magazine and asked why they were the most generous millionaires in America. My dad said it was a God thing.

And there's another tangent. Sorry.

The point being that I actually had some moral fiber in my background.

I was quite the charismatic kid growing up. I started off my education in private school and made several friends in my time there. However, once I entered high school, I grew bored of the process and begged my parents to let me try out regular school to see if that suited me. Figuring there wouldn't be any problems, my parents allowed me to go to a regular high school and that was where I first met Sara Ringwalt.

And now I'm getting ahead of myself.

High school was a very eye-opening experience for me. Granted, it's not like I was ever a sheltered child or anything, so I knew the world was not exactly filled with magical wonder and happy-go-lucky times with your friends and family. However, at the private schools I went to, we never had such a truly messed up student body. Not to say that everyone I met were pill popping, murderous gangstas, but man were they strange compared to what I was used to.

I made the transition well enough and even made some new friends, but most of them either moved or left me alone after a while for various reasons. Not that I'm bitter with them; sometimes people need to hang out with other people who interest them. I just didn't interest them anymore.

If you ever hear me refer to myself as a lady's man please just whack me over the head and tell me to shut up. Before I met Sara I had one girlfriend and that was a terrible relationship. Her name was Mary Foley and she was probably the worst decision I've ever made in my life. Up till that point in my life, I was what my father called a "straight-arrow", or in layman's terms, someone who rarely did anything "bad". (I use quotations because we're all bad people when you get to the center of the problem, but my "bad" wasn't as "bad" as other people's, but the fact remains that it was still "bad". Sorry for confusing you all.) Mary, however, saw fit to gradually get me to drift away from the straight and narrow—and by gradual, try after our first date—as well as the condition that slowly kills me whenever I physically exert myself.

I was a healthy kid growing up. Besides the usual ear infections at a young age and the colds and fevers one gets in life, I never had anything serious to worry about.

That all changed thanks to Mary.

I asked Mary out my sophomore year in high school. I'd seen her around a couple of times and really started to like her. She was pretty, sure, but I liked her more for the way she debated issues in class. I'm a regular arguer, so I'm attracted to people who like to argue with me too. Not exactly the best basis for a relationship, but that's me for you; I never claimed to be the smartest guy in the world.

It was the first time I'd ever done something like this, so I was scared. The usual reasons: What if she says no? What if she just wants to be friends? What if she thinks I'm the most awful thing ever to grace the face of the planet? You know, those worries us guys have when trying to open up to a girl about our feelings. I imagine it works both ways, but, since I've never been a woman, I can't really comment on that.

To my surprise, she said yes and then asked me where I wanted to take her out. At the time I froze. I hadn't planned that far in advance, which was rather stupid of me. I was saved from my ignorance by Mary, who thankfully pointed me in the direction of one of the local Italian restaurants, which we went to. I'd just gained my driver's license at the time, so I got to pick her up and drive her there. It made me feel good to be able to do this by myself without someone else having to help me out. This may seem a little odd to some of you, but when you're rich, people tend to do everything for you. I had to beg up and down for my dad not to have one of our chauffeurs drive us there. I had to prove to myself that I could do things without the help of others. And so I did.

It was a great night, but that was when I first got my first indication of Mary's real character. When I first started to notice her, I figured she was somewhat well off, but I found out that she was from the worst parts of North Park, which is quite far away from my school, but it was a magnet school, so kids from all over San Diego came. She invited me to go with her and her friends to a place where they hung out. Naïvely I accepted the offer and agreed to meet up with her the next day.

That night I was all but assaulted by my parents, who wanted to know everything about what happened. Did we kiss? Did I make her cry? Could they do anything to help? I didn't really mind them, seeing as how some parents could care less what their kids are doing, so I answered them and said that Mary and me were going to go out on a date the next day, which my dad was fervently proud of. He pronounced me a man and said I had his full support in my endeavors. My mom all but cried when Dad and me finished our little talk, making me so embarrassed. But that's what true parents do, they want to know everything about you, want to help you out in anyway they can, and then they pass on the torch so that you can make it on your own, hoping they did all they could to prepare you for the real world.

I sincerely hope that I can do that for you…or both of you depending on how the process works. Heck, I wouldn't care if there were six of you.

So after fleeing my parents and getting a good night's sleep, I woke up the next morning to prepare for my date with Mary. It was quite the drive getting to the place she had talked about, but it gave me some time to talk with Mary and learn more about her. She lived in a single-parent home, but her mom was always working in an effort to pay the rent. Mary had lived in relative poverty for the majority of her life, which didn't add up with what I'd seen her own and wear, but I threw my suspicions aside when she told me about how her father had left them when she was seven. It made me feel awful, seeing as how I'd lived financially and parentally secure my entire life and Mary hadn't had as good an opportunity as me.

And then I asked what exactly her friends did at this place I'd failed to ask the name of before I agreed to go there. Mary smiled and said, "Get what we deserve."

As I pulled into an abandoned warehouse, I wondered just what the heck was going on.

"This is where you hang out?" I asked, apprehensive to say the least.

"Of course it is," she said. "Come on and we'll meet the gang."

The word crap came to mind.

Even still, I parked the car and went with Mary inside the warehouse, regretting my decision with every step I took. What kind of stupid pills I was taking that day I will never know, but there I was, in unknown territory, with a girl I barely knew, wondering what she wanted me to see.

The moment I stepped inside the building, I had that overwhelming sense of dread people get when they know they've made a mistake and know they can't run away from it in time. Inside the warehouse were four other people, two guys and two girls, all near my age. The closest one, an African-American guy standing a good seven inches above my five and a half foot range, asked, "He the one?"

"Yep," Mary said, pushing me forward.

"What the heck is going on here?" I asked, looking back from the others over to Mary.

"We gonna rob you, man," the other guy—the only other Caucasian besides Mary and me in the room—said.

Gah, just how stupid can someone get? I'd only known her like one day and I never figured it'd be a good idea to ask where we were going, tell someone else where I was going, or to even ask what we were going to do once we got there. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Realizing that my night of romantic bliss was over, I pulled out my taser and shot at the Caucasian guy, sending him to the floor. Impetuousness at its best.

Over the years my parents saw fit to have me take as many self-defense classes as possible. I learned aikido, basic karate and taekwondo, as well as how to fire both tasers and personal firearms. My father, as I noted much earlier, was once a member of the US Army, and proudly echoed this fact at home, as he told me of how in Vietnam he'd saved several of his fellow soldiers from the North Vietnamese in the battle of July Two, when they'd almost been swarmed by the invading army. He managed to take out a machine gun nest that had mowed down his superior officer and was later rewarded with a Bronze Star Medal. He taught me how to defend myself should someone else pull a gun on me, however, that was meant for a one-on-one fight, not when the other members of a gang pulled their weapons out at me, with Mary shooting me in the back.

Blood coming out of my chest, I stood there, dazed at the sight of my blood when I put my hand to the wound. Falling to the ground, I heard the first man yell at Mary for ruining my clothes, since they could have caught a huge price. I gagged on bile that had gathered in my mouth and trembled, while trying to cry out in pain, but no sound left my lips.

One of the girls came near me and put her hand in my pockets, taking my wallet and the keys to my car. I tried to do something to get them back, but the sudden move on my part exacerbated the pain in my chest and I coughed up the bile, now mixed in with blood, out.

"I knew we was gonna kill him, but this isn't the way we wanted to do it," one of the girls said. "You was supposed to slit his throat. Now someone's gonna call the cops."

"Then we have to work quick," Mary said, moving closer to me. "Sorry, Matt, but it's just business. Nothin' personal."

_No, _I thought, _shooting people in the back to steal their possessions is far from being personal. _

"Maybe we can at least sell his pants," someone else said, but I couldn't figure out the gender.

I heard someone coming to situate themselves nearby me and felt them pull at my pants. Finally it seemed that the adrenaline in my body decided to jumpstart a temporary jolt of energy and I gathered myself into one full defensive motion: Getting myself away from them and finding help. I threw my left arm savagely at the woman trying to take my pants, knocking out a tooth, right as I sent an uppercut right to Mary's direction—who stood there watching my sudden rise with a look of incredulity on her face—which sent her to the ground. Rolling to where I had dropped my taser when I was shot, I aimed it at the last girl in the room, hitting her in the stomach. She convulsed for a moment, but then fell down.

Adrenaline rushes are important parts of a perfectly designed system of the human body. The fight or flight response allows a person to decided whether to focus the large amount of energy heading his or her way on getting the heck outta there or fighting to defend one's self. There have been recorded feats of people normally not able to lift tiny objects that have picked up parts of cars or wreckage to save people caught underneath them. The strain on the body, however, causes them to use this energy quickly, so if one does end up in a situation facing death, he or she should use the energy efficiently and quickly, otherwise they'll end up burnt out. I once read a report on how the Nazis had gone through several attempts to engineer synthetic adrenaline to help give their soldiers a physical edge in battle. However, all they did was either kill the men undertaking the study, or cause them to burn out their adrenaline, rendering them comatose.

I lost the majority of my adrenaline when the last guy standing started shooting at me. Panicking, I started to feel the pain coming back to me, as I ran away from him. I felt the burn of a bullet as it barely avoided my ear and the pain in my chest grew larger. New sensations convulsed inside me as I started to let tears form in my eyes.

"Get back here now!" the last guy roared at me as I fled.

I didn't reply; I couldn't waste the energy I needed to escape. Did I have a plan? Nothing concrete. All I knew was that I had to get help.

The inability to think things through led to my downfall, and that's not a cute little metaphor, I fell down some non-OSHA approved balcony when I slipped on some grime left behind from whenever the warehouse had been operable. Trying to find something to halt my fall, I grabbed onto a chain that had a hook on it, which embedded itself in my left side, slightly puncturing my heart as I found out later. The chain flung me out a window, causing glass to enter both my wounds, while also creating several new ones when they entered the skin. I barely had time to register my pain when I slammed onto the side of the building, and rolled down the side into the bushes below.

The moment I hit the ground, I lost sight of the world around me and tried to look around to see if it was coming back. Gradually my sight returned and I witnessed the vague outline of a figure running to me. Figuring myself for dead, I closed my eyes, but whoever it was screamed when they saw me, making me open them again. With vision clouded by the blood trickling over my eyes, I witnessed a girl a little younger than me with blonde hair.

"Are you okay?" she asked as I faded away into the realm of the unconscious.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: Sorry for the late update, but I just now had some time to write, so here it is. As always let me know if there is anything I need to correct or it you have questions. Thanks in advance.

Chapter 4

I woke up what seemed like mere moments later, opening my eyes to discover an odd and totally white hospital room. Shutting my eyes, I tried to see the room again and found out that the room had never been fully white and whatever was in my system was messing with my senses.

My ears alerted me to movement on my right and I shifted quickly to that side to find the source, but a sharp pain in my chest forced me to halt my advance and I yelped at the unplanned hurt. Gritting my teeth together, I looked at my body and found multiple tubes in my mouth, something I'd failed to notice earlier. Spitting them out, I coughed up whatever it was they were trying to put in my body and gagged, once more feeling pain around my chest.

Suddenly the sound of alarms beeping cascaded my ears and I felt a small hand put itself on my right shoulder and a woman who sounded younger than me say, "Please don't move. The doctors said you shouldn't move."

Easing my tense muscles, I gently slowed myself and lay down peacefully on the pillow. Turning to my right with less speed than my previous attempt, I found a pretty girl around thirteen staring back at me. She smiled at me, probably trying to ease my mind. I took a good look at her and liked what I saw. She had remarkable blue eyes and the most amazing blonde hair I'd ever seen on a woman. Her face confided its mellow tones that made me calm down ever more, while the smile on her lips made the small beginnings of euphoria engulf me. I almost asked her out then and there.

Sweet statutory what is wrong with me?

I didn't know her name, I didn't know who she was, I wasn't concerned about the horrific events that had seemingly just happened to me, but I was concerned with the idea of knowing that she would accept my invitation to a date? Hopefully that was the drugs talking and not me being encumbered by the Dulcinea Effect or just plain idiocy.

She must have noticed the dazed look on my face and figured it for a byproduct of my treatment, because she said, "It looks like the drugs are making it difficult for you to keep a straight face, friend."

Normally I would've offered a saving throw by shaking my head and trying again, but luckily I remembered what had happened the last time I'd moved fast and instead said to her, "Hi."

I know what you're thinking, "Wow, he's real smooth." Well, I'll tell you what I'm thinking right now, "Shut up."

Ahem.

She laughed. "Hi."

I figured I should introduce myself, but then when I tried to think of my name, I just couldn't. I closed my eyes and concentrated on what happened. I recalled going with a girl somewhere and getting shot, which led to me falling and hurting myself, but I just couldn't gather any information on who I was.

"Please don't strain yourself, man, you've been in a coma for two days," she said, breaking me from my concentration.

_Two days? _I thought. _Where are Mom and Dad?_

I stopped myself as I recalled my parents. Surely if I remembered them I could also recall who I was.

"What are their names?" I said aloud, unaware of what I'd said.

The girl said something, but I ignored her, trying to focus on my family.

My mom stayed at home; she worked from home. Dad was a…cigarette guy. I took those two thoughts and tried to correlate them, seeking my identity. Dad worked out of the house, at a plant, and he always came home some time around five, earlier if I was involved in something else and he wanted to watch me. The word "royalty" kept floating up whenever I thought of something. I tried to figure out what that meant. Surely I wasn't some long-lost member of Queen Elizabeth the Second's family, or something like that, yet the word kept repeating itself.

"What's the opposite of queen?" I asked aloud.

"A king?" the girl answered, somewhat surprised at my outburst.

_King…I'm a King_, I thought. _Wait…I am a King!_

"I'm Matthew King!" I shouted, lifting myself up from the pillow and clutching my chest the moment I did so.

The monitors around me broke out into a symphony of alarms and beeps, making my head hurt as I hit the pillow again. The girl cried out, "Nurse, help!" as I slowly fell down into unconsciousness.

An eternity later, I opened my eyes, and found that the room had darkened a tiny bit, the result of the sun going down outside. Adjusting my eyes to the conflicting natures of the lights in the building and the lack of light outside, I found the girl was still there and that she had rushed to my side, saying, "Not again! You can't move again! They say the next one could kill you!"

That certainly sobered me up. Halting my movements, I took several deep breaths and tried to calm down. She let go of my hand, which she'd grasped in an attempt to calm me and stood there staring at me.

"Hi," I said, finally calm.

"Hi again," she said, laughing.

"I think I've got a serious case of déjà vu."

"You're not alone, Matthew. It's Sara by the way."

"What?" I asked, straightening up.

"My name," Sara said, smiling. "I'm Sara Ringwalt."

(Prettiest name I've ever heard in my life.)

I smiled back, "Call me Matt, it makes me happy, Sara." I extended my hand. She seemed a little concerned at first because of my movement, but smiled again and shook it. "Was it you who found me?"

Sara nodded. "Yeah, I was walking home from volleyball practice at my middle school and I saw you fall out of the old warehouse. I ran over, checked you over for any bad injuries, and then I called 911. They'd already had someone call them about gunshots being heard in the warehouse, so they ended up finding you quicker that way. They say you're lucky to be alive."

I'm going to stop the story real quickly to talk about something I firmly believe in. I firmly believe that there is no such thing as luck in this world. I believe that things happen because they were supposed to happen that way. Not like some predestination theory, but more of this is how things are going to unfold because of the circumstances that bring them together.

For example: A car that doesn't see a small child on the road notices a bird flying right to the window and swerves to avoid it, unintentionally missing the child as well. I like to think of what people call "luck" as more of a "God thing", because that makes more sense to me. I'm a very spiritual guy and I know that He's out there trying to help us, no matter how much things suck. It's one of those things in life you've got to learn by example, because otherwise all you're acting on is blind faith. I sure did.

However, you will still see me talking about how things "luckily" or "fortunately" or "unluckily" happened one way or another, but this is mostly because "Godily" just sounds stupid and I'd prefer it that my last gift to humankind would not be this gem, "Godily, I was able to hide in my hut before the sandstorm wiped out the rest of the village."

Fortunately, I was wise enough not to bring up my views when conversing with the woman who'd just saved my life. "You said I've been here for two days?" I asked.

"Yes," Sara said. "I've been coming back and forth from home and school to see if there was any changes, or if someone claimed you, but nobody ever did. You didn't have any identification when the ambulance picked you up. Well, at least until I heard you scream it out before you passed out. The doctors told the police who you were and they're searching for your parents right now."

I laid back down on my pillow and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Sara. How can I ever repay you?"

"You can start by telling me why you fell out of a two-story warehouse with a gunshot wound and several other injuries."

I told her what I remembered. Now that I knew my name the details returned to me much quicker and I finally gave her everything about my excursion. When I finished I said, "Not exactly my proudest moment."

All she did was nod. She didn't judge me, didn't call me stupid—precisely what I was at the time—or offer any advice. Instead Sara said, "There's something you should know."

"What's that?" I asked, puzzled.

"I know the doctors would probably like to tell you this, but I thought you might want to hear it from a semi-familiar face."

A thousand possibilities entered my mind. I'd noticed the wounds that were still visible, despite what my hospital gown tried to keep secret; I had certainly suffered a lot of damage, something I'd thought wasn't possible to wake up from. To think that I had come away from it unscarred would be preposterous.

"I overheard the doctors talking about what happened to you," Sara continued. "The police that came after the ambulance searched the warehouse and found out what you did to yourself. The gunshot severed certain areas around your heart, almost cutting it off from the systems needed to keep you alive, and then the hook that you got stabbed by perforated the other side of your heart, but just barely, so you're still alive."

I sat back up. I knew that I'd injured myself severely and that they weren't going to be the types to walk away from scot-free, but I'd never realized just how close I had come to outright dying.

"What's wrong with me?" I asked, knowing there was something she obviously didn't want to go on about.

Sara looked me in the eyes and said, "They say you have cardiac arrhythmia."

"Come again?" I asked, unaware of what arrhythmia meant. Cardiac made me think of my heart and that didn't sound like it was going to be pleasant.

Sara sighed. "They say it's because of the damage you took to your heart and that it's so messed up right now. The muscles, arteries, and everything else around it are all almost totally ruined and it could…probably kill you."

It's nice to be told you're about to die by someone you barely know. It's nicer when that someone's a complete stranger who spent the last few days watching over a guy she knew was about to kick the bucket.

"Are you okay, Matt?" she asked.

I looked at her and tried not to let the tears I knew wanted to flood my face out. "Am I okay?" I repeated. "Well, seeing as how I've got a serious heart problem and I'm likely to drop dead any second, no, I'm not okay."

"But you're not going to drop dead any second. That will only happen if you over exert yourself. The doctors said that the longer you have periods of rest, the less likely you will ever die because your heart will be able to keep up with your actions."

"Huh?"

"The calmer you are, the more you'll live. The less work you do, the more you'll live."

"Great, so I'm like the Hulk, except the madder I get the only thing that's ever going to happen is I end up six feet under."

"If that's the way you want to put it, then yes, you will."

I placed my hands on my face and exhaled. A myriad of thoughts entered my mind, plaguing me with possible scenarios of me dying; most of them revolving me dying because of doing something as simple as a walk on the street. It unnerved me.

I realized then that my blood pressure was spiking and I tried to calm down, not wanting the doctors to come in again, which they had obviously done before, as the tubes that had once supplied me with nourishment were gone and now replaced with several others that now offered blood, O negative. I'd been born lucky; I was a universal donor, so the blood I needed was always nearby.

"Why did you stay?" I asked suddenly.

"Why did I stay?" Sara repeated. "Maybe because that's what you do whenever someone gets hurt: You look out for them."

It sounded like both my father and mother were channeling themselves out of her mouth. That was almost verbatim the answer they gave me whenever they stayed beside my bed while I was sick.

I smiled. "Thanks. I imagine it wasn't exactly what you wanted to do, but you have my thanks. When my family gets here, there's a check for a million dollars with your name on it, Sara."

Now it was Sara's turn to be surprised. "Wha-What?"

Grinning, I reiterated my statement. "When my family gets here, there's check for a million dollars with your name on it, Sara. You just saved the son of a very rich man. My dad's the owner of the Royal King Cigarette Company."

"You're that Matthew King?" she said, for some reason with more surprise than I expected.

"Yes, I'm that Matthew King," I said, looking at her with a quizzical expression on my face. "Why, did I do something wrong?"

"No, it's just my dad knows yours," Sara said. "He served in his unit during the Vietnam War. Your dad saved his life when he got hit with shrapnel during the invasion of Cambodia. He talks about your dad and you all the time."

I laughed. "And now here you are to save the son of the man who saved your dad. That's awesome. 'Sex Magnet' Ringwalt is your father?"

This, my friends, is why I believe in God. There is no such thing as circumstance. Everything in life, from its lowest point to its most mundane serves a higher purpose we humans can barely understand. It's quite funny sometimes when you think about it. Back when I was growing up people used to be obsessed with a game called Six Degrees From Kevin Bacon. The purpose was to show that any person on Earth has, in some small way, a chain that can link them together with the actor. (Coincidentally, I've met the man, so my chain's a little shorter than anyone else who plays.) In life, you will always find a connection with someone, even if you've never met before that day. That was what I found the day I woke up from my coma.

Sara giggled when she heard her father's old nickname. "Well, he hardly goes by Sex Magnet anymore, because my mom gets real mad when she hears it, but Harry's a nice one to go by anyways."

"Ha-ha, my dad always used to tell me stories about how Sex Magnet—I mean, Harry—would always graffiti the superior officer's uniforms with different colors to make them look ridiculous, and how he placed glue in a CO's hat that stuck to his head the moment he put it on."

We laughed again, however, the monitors ruined the mood, making me tense up upon noticing their presence in the room. I'd almost forgotten they existed. In that small period of time, I was normal again, I was healthy, and I was having a nice conversation with a nice woman. "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in," or so says the great Michael Corleone.

My momentary happiness waning, I sighed once more. "Well, I guess it could be worse," I said.

"How could it be worse?" Sara asked.

"I could be Clinton and dealing with Monica and Hillary."

She laughed again, but I withheld my own from leaving my mouth, trying to find out what I could and couldn't do anymore.

About that time, the door to my hospital room opened and a minute, almost fully bald Armenian man entered. Seeing me awake and stable, he said, "Hello, Mr. King and Miss Ringwalt. I am Dr. Ayvazyan and I have some good news and bad news. Which would you prefer first?"

I shrugged. "Well, it's not like I'm feeling overly happy anyways, might as well keep raining on my parade with bad news."

He seemed a little put off by my candor, but then again, so was I, so I fully got why he kept up the frankness with, "About your condition—"

"The cardiac arrhythmia," I corrected.

He exchanged glances with Sara and she nodded her head, letting him know what she'd done. "Very well, your cardiac arrhythmia is indeed the problem here. You were lucky to survive that fall, Mr. King, to say nothing of the fact that you also suffered a severe wound to your heart as well as a gunshot. It is a miracle that you are alive right now, thanks mostly to the quick response of Miss Ringwalt and the team that kept you from falling into a coma prematurely. The wounds you suffered would have killed a normal man, but it seems that someone up there must like you."

He paused, waiting for some reaction from me, which I didn't provide, because I wanted him to keep going.

"You have been here for two days since the incident," Dr. Ayvazyan continued when he figured I wouldn't answer. "The damage you suffered has weakened your heart and must be kept under constant surveillance. There is a chance—a small chance, but the fact remains that it exists—that you can once again continue your life outside the walls of this hospital, but you must never again physically exert yourself past the point that your heart can take, or you will die."

I nodded. "Okay, then let's do it. I'm not staying here the rest of my life. Sorry, Doc, but I've got better things to do with my life than waste away in here. I would much prefer going out with a bang."

I formed a pistol with my right hand and shot it. Sara suppressed a smile and I winked at her. Once again I stopped myself from laughing, knowing it wouldn't help me.

"Yes, but to get out of here, you must go through rigorous physical rehabilitation and this could end up killing you."

"What does kill you these days? Gunshots, wayward hooks, and falls don't seem to do the trick anymore, so why should I worry about some extraneous rehab?"

Dr. Ayvazyan rubbed his temple. "I'm happy that you feel the need to joke about this, Mr. King, but you must realize the seriousness of this on your life."

"But I do, doctor," I said. "I was afflicted with a very serious medical condition I brought on myself and now I have to pay the consequences of my mistake by rigorously training for hours on end to get my body back to the state it was in, or as close as I can, so I can live a semi-normal life. It's simple really: I either succeed or I don't."

I know I sound supremely confident here, but I swear that I was scared. This is typically what I do when I get scared or something bad happens: I joke about it to help clear my head or state the problems and the solutions to keep me calm, because if I didn't I'd be flipping out.

"Well, confidence is an amazing attribute to have," he said. "Let us hope that you have the gumption to back it up too."

"So what's the good news, Doc?" I asked.

Quick side note: Who says "gumption" anymore? I had to look it up.

"Your parents were quite worried about you and placed a missing person's notice the moment it was time to do so and we have notified them of your presence here once we found out who you were, so you might want to prepare for them. I will tell them not to rush in here and then worsen your condition, so they will be remotely calm when they enter."

"Thanks, Dr. Ayvazyan," I said, applauding myself for even remembering such an obscure name. "The moment my parents get here I'm thinking we'll work out a way to donate some funds your way. If you guys can perform a miracle on me, then it's more than likely you can help out a whole lot of other people too."

He smiled. "You are far too generous, Mr. King. It should be noted that the only reason you are in the state you are now doesn't lie with the operations we performed, but in your will to live on. I wish you a speedy recovery. Once again, Miss Ringwalt, thank you for monitoring him for us. Good day to you."

With that Dr. Ayvazyan left Sara and me alone in the room. I sat upright and then stared into the television that was playing some news report from one of the nearby TV stations, wondering what I could do now that I'd been granted a second chance on life.

"I can leave if you want, Matt," Sara said, making me remember she was still there.

I smiled, looked at her, and said, "No, I'm fine; I'm just thinking. Besides, I'd still like to reward you properly."

"I don't need the money, Matt. We're well off enough."

"Then give it away to charity. Heck, just tell me who deserves it the most and I'll send it that way."

"You'd really do that?" Sara asked.

"You bet I would," I said, beaming. "Just a few days ago, I was as good as dead, but now I'm alive and kicking…well, I would be kicking, if I wasn't worried about my heart, but forget about that. The point is I'm going to do something now. I've got millions just laying there doing nothing in the bank. They're going to people who need them way more than I ever will. So, where's the money headed?"

Sara pointed up at the TV, which was showing a report on child soldiers in the Sudan. "My dad used to talk about how the Vietcong used children to make us mess up and get shot while we couldn't shoot back, but this is much worse. These kids are taken from their homes and forced to actually fight. Whenever I go to church I always make sure that my tithe goes to the ministry we have that tries to buy off the people using them and to get the kids to a safe home."

"Well, as soon as my parents get here, it's a done deal, sweetheart."

And that was how I met the love of my life. Not exactly the way I planned to meet the woman for me, but the good Lord has a way of showing you His ideas are a thousand times better than your expectations. Although I wish we could have skipped past the get cardiac arrhythmia thing, but it's all good.

As I talked with Sara that day, I found that she was in eighth grade, but that she was scheduled to come to the magnet school I went to next year. We talked about a lot of things, including how everyone involved with the assault on me was in jail awaiting bail that would never show up, how she wanted to grow up and be an artist, and how I was going to come back safe and sound once I healed up. We never brought up the point of how I could fail, because I knew that wasn't going to happen. I couldn't let it. I was a man with a plan, and that plan was to make things in the world better than when I'd left them through my first death.

My parents arrived later, my mother was almost in full hysterics, but Dad calmed her down and I told them what happened. They thanked Sara for her troubles and then my dad drove her home, so he could see Sex Magnet and drop off the check for all the child soldiers Sara was so passionate about.

The rest is quite boring, frankly. Day after day of slow exercise, never exerting myself too much for fear of a heart attack, and all that stuff, but eventually I told my cardiac arrhythmia where it could go and I was able to come back to school, reasonably healthy. My meds kept me in check if I ever worked too hard, but I never had any sort of attacks, except when I almost got a heart attack asking Sara out the day she came into high school. Thank God she said yes, otherwise this story would be much shorter.

Then again, if it were, then nothing would have happened to her either.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Sorry for the delay, I've been with an unfriendly family computer away from home. I've just now been able to get it to agree with me. Hope you enjoy. As always let me know if there's anything that needs to be corrected or if you wish to talk about something else.

Extra A/N: Sorry, but I was under the mistake impression that I had uploaded this the other day, but apparently I hit the wrong button. So, here it is now, and you get an unexpected bonus with the sixth chapter as well coming right up.

Part III: Disconnected

Chapter 5

Back in what was then the present, I woke up from a horrific slumber, one that I almost hate to bring back up, because of what I saw. It was almost like a vision, one of those cool things you used to see in the comics or on TV…minus the cool factor. I saw version after version of Sara get eviscerated, violated, and eventually killed over and over again, while all I could do was stand to the side and do nothing. Every time a new Sara would appear I tried to get the other me in the dream to do something to save her, but like me, he was also unable to move. Eventually I noticed changes in his appearance as well. He'd start off looking exactly like I had before we'd been taken from our world, with my black hair and cerulean eyes perfectly intact, but then he would disintegrate, first with him losing our natural hair color in favor of white tone, then with severe bruises and scars all over his body…and finally he'd crumble to dust, reaching out to try and get to Sara.

I shared none of this with Sara when I woke up in our cell, mostly because I was too much in pain from the previous day's experiences to do so, and also because she was sound asleep. I felt that if I awoke her from her momentary peace, then I'd somehow ruin her chances of finding a way to cope with everything, so I let her rest, as I drained the last tears from my body as fast as they'd leave.

I examined the room we were in, trying to find a way to escape. I quickly found that I'd misjudged the amount of outlets for light to enter the room. (Well, seeing as how I was heavily drugged at the time, can you really blame me?) There was a single window above my ability to reach. (Well, I say window, but what I really mean is a hole in the wall, because that's all it was. Not knowing any particular terminology that would bring me a different word to use, I settled on window.) Following the window was a small area of the wall that had been taken off near the bottom. The sun's rays penetrated from it, all but blinding me; however, I quickly adjusted to the change of light and peered outside, lying down flat on the cold metal floor. What I saw ruined my hopes that I was still back in my own time.

We were near the top of an enormous metallic structure, something akin to those Starbases I saw on _Star Trek_. Before I continued to focus on the outside world, I tried to think if I even knew the name of the place we were in. Hamdo had mentioned something he called _Hellywood_, but at the time I thought he meant his country of origin. That was when I reasoned that this structure we were in was _Hellywood_. Of course I had no proof that this was _Hellywood_, but it seemed like a good idea to at least call it something else, rather than "the structure".

Content in my classification, I stared back into the light, finding rusted iron rods protruding from all over _Hellywood_. I wondered what they were for, as they seemed to serve no purpose I could think of. Maybe even Hamdo didn't know what they were for anymore. Pushing aside the question, I witnessed the immense sand trap of a desert that surrounded _Hellywood_. Since I was situated upon a place on higher ground, I could make out what was near us for miles, straight into the horizon, but the only thing I saw was sand, with maybe the occasional rock jutting out of the haphazardly formed sand dunes.

_So we are in a desert,_ I thought, confirming the story Abelia had offered when she had talked of the nearness of a desert to make her disobedient soldiers go to. _But surely this can't be the only topographical feature around. Maybe we're just in the center of the desert and the nearest oasis or savannah or whatever's real close by. I mean, who just parks their, um, _Hellywood_, in the middle of the freaking desert? No, there must be some place that's their real base of operations. _

Then I looked at the sun and abandoned thoughts of returning home. Something about the light seemed to be off, as if the sun were giving irregular rays that humanity wasn't supposed to be used to. It burned my eyes whenever I used it to look outside, and then, when I stared straight at the giver of life to Earth, I started to cry.

The sun was red.

The sun isn't supposed to be red.

_Where the hell am I? _I asked myself. _Krypton? What happened to the sun? Why isn't it yellow? Did we do something to change its "life cycle" to speed up its inevitable deterioration? No, how the hell would we have done that? _

I pushed myself away from the tiny opening, knowing that it had no value as a potential escape route. Trying to roll my body to the left, I realized I was trembling. I was afraid of what I'd learned.

Home was no longer within reach, Sara and I were stranded, there was a massive desert with no end in sight that meant escape was all but impossible, the sun was red, and I now had to work for a sadistic man I hadn't even met yet to build or refurbish war machines I couldn't possibly understand.

But then I felt Sara's hand on my shoulder and my trembling stopped. Twisting my body over to see her, I witnessed her face, which seemed to glow in the light provided by the small opening I'd just left. It was so serene, so beautiful; it almost made me forget we were in trouble.

"Matt," she said, "please don't do anything you wouldn't do if I were with you."

Her one statement directed to me, "Please don't do anything you wouldn't do if I were with you" was Sara-speak for "Don't be an a-hole and end up getting yourself killed by being your usual sarcastic self. Try to think through everything and do what you're told. These people are crazy and will kill you for the smallest infraction." Sara normally was the calmer of the two of us, and the fact that she'd said all that within the span of a single sentence made me realized that I probably would've ended doing exactly what she had just warned me against. I'm very impetuous at times; I swear I must have some kind of closeted mental disorder that makes me seek to piss people off by sending disparaging sarcastic remarks their way. Not exactly the kind of attitude you want to have when your girlfriend's being held captive against her will.

I nodded. "I will, Sara. Just promise me that you'll do the same in here and to let me know if anyone threatens you."

"I promise, Matt." She was scared, I could tell, but it's not like I could blame her, I was working to prevent her from being tortured or sexually abused.

I leaned over to and kissed Sara, trying to calm her down and make her forget her worries. I only backed away when I heard the sounds of footsteps behind us.

Looking at an awkward angle, I saw two men wearing the same kind of military fatigues as the ones who'd taken Sara and me back in San Diego. The one closest to us unlocked the cell door and motioned for me to exit. I picked myself up, regretting the fact that I hadn't showered or cleaned myself in any way. For some reason I felt as if I would never again experience the pleasantries of a world of plenty.

Before I left the cell, I halted to take one last look at Sara, saying, "I'll be back as soon as possible, sweetheart. I love you, Sara."

Sara started to return the favor, but the man on my left brought out a knife and placed it near my neck. "Get a move on, boy, or we'll make sure she never moves again. King Hamdo does not like to be kept waiting."

Cringing, I obeyed, and obediently followed my new taskmasters to the special assignment that I couldn't figure out how to solve without causing the end of our lives.

I prayed for guidance, and, for once, my prayers were answered as I entered the labyrinth of the monster of _Hellywood_.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, or whatever it is you'd prefer to celebrate, and, to make the holidays better, here's the sixth chapter. Reviews, as always, are greatly appreciated, and I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 6

My captors took me through the corridors of the thing I assumed was _Hellywood_, proving in the meanwhile that they weren't exactly the epitome of conversationalists. I tried to ask them about the whereabouts of some of the nations that I desperately hoped were still around or would prove a running hypothesis I had that I was in a place near where the Middle East or the Sahara once were, based on the similarities I'd noticed between the written language they had and Arabic. They had never heard of the United States or Kingdom, Australia, Egypt, Japan, Israel, or Iraq, which really made me feel at least a little bit safer, because the last thing I wanted was Saddam Hussein's descendants tear gassing me.

I say they weren't conversationalists, but I mean it in the sense that they weren't interested in answering my questions and allowing me to respond in kind after the initial round of questions on my part. From then on out they asked me about a place called Zari-Bars, which sounded nothing like any nation I'd ever heard of. I tried to crack a joke that explained how Hollywood had taken over the world, but my captors didn't seem to get it, and to tell the truth it was a rather lame joke anyways.

In the meantime, I studied the corridors and the people we passed on our way to wherever it was they wanted me to go to. The hallways were cramped, and we had to pause several times to let other people get past us. They were also terribly lit, leading me to think that their electrical technology was somehow suffering from some unknown mechanical ailment. I mean, if they could travel to the past, drive souped-up mechas that Hideaki Anno would laugh at, and have the ability to transplant a "universal translator" into my head, then surely they could solve a simple electrical problem. Heck, the recorder I'm using right now to make sure this debacle gets told to you in case something happens to me, is a fundamental leap in technology. Maybe they'd just forgotten to pay their bill. Hamdo seemed the evil tax collector type.

I passed a group of kids holding some really authentic looking toy guns and who also wore the same uniforms of the soldiers. I assumed the uniforms had been made so the children could play in the same fatigues as their fathers in order to show some huge sense of nationalism or whatnot. I glanced at them again, a sliver of doubt entering my mind on the validity of the gun's being used for the type of "play" American kids were used to, but I shut it off in favor of paying attention to my other surroundings.

The area we were in seemed to be some kind of barracks, which all but proved a hypothesis I'd just made up then that the good king Hamdo was trying to take over some people or countries he possibly thought were rightfully his. If only I knew of the overall seriousness of my hypothesis then…maybe I wouldn't have done everything like I did, but what ifs are a battle you can always win or lose, depending on your mood, so I tend not to dwell on them.

"King Hamdo wishes to see you in his garden," the flunky on my right said.

I didn't like the looks of him. He had that obviously sinister look on his face that screamed to me to not piss him off, yet he still appeared like he hadn't done an honest day's work in his life, reminding me of an Arabic Norman Chaney from those old _Little Rascals_ shorts my dad used to show me. His cheeks were sinking inside of his mouth, his hair was unkempt and miserable looking, and his eyes reminded me of varied depictions of soulless men who'd sold their salvation to the Devil. I dubbed him Chubby.

I hate him.

Hindsight curses me once again. If I could have grabbed that man's sidearm and blown his brains out, I'd gladly do it, knowing what he'd do to Sara later. I realize this seems like a stupid option, given our situation, but sometimes it's really hard to let go of hate, especially when it's directed toward someone who's hurt the most precious part of your life. I've been taught to forgive my enemies and to even pray for them, but it's an easy thing to say you would when the time comes, rather than when you actually have to follow through with it. I'm far from being perfect.

But enough of that, I'm getting ahead of myself. I hate it when I do that.

At the time I heard "garden" and wondered just what else I'd find in this massive complex. Maybe I could find a way back to the time travel room, figure it out, and get Sara and me back home.

"I understand," I responded. "It will be a pleasure to meet him."

My mother told me all lies were unacceptable, and, while I agree with her on the idea, my father always let me get away with what he called "acceptable lies" or lies that were designed to protect the people you loved. It most certainly wasn't a pleasure to meet the man who'd threatened several hours before to have my girlfriend raped, but to keep the both of us safe, I had to pretend like it was, and if that's a bad thing, then that's just something I'll find out on my day of judgment.

I glanced at the soldier on my left, who I hadn't really paid attention to before that moment. He had a pleasant face, in stark contrast to the thing on my right. His eyes were dark, and I couldn't make out their color in the limited lighting of the hallways. He took a look at me as well and smiled, surprising me. It felt weird to be smiled at by someone who also followed orders from Hamdo, but it was a genuine smile, so I smiled back. I had a weird thought that maybe he wasn't such a bad person, and that he was here against his will, but before I could pursue my newest hypothesis, Chubby threw me into the room we had just walked to without my knowing, as I'd been focused on spying on my captors.

Coughing up the dirt I landed in, I noticed a voice that I'd only heard before on a connector as it yelled at Chubby, "What the hell do you think you are doing, fool!"

I looked up from the ground and saw a man with a bowl cut who wore a green outfit that reminded me of Oriental designs I'd seen back home. It had yellow spots on it that looked like buttons, but I couldn't figure out if they were, while three different red cuff-looking things were on the garment's neck area, as well as the places where his left and right hands came out. He was somewhat tall, but not as tall as the other solider with me, who I decided to call Happy. He carried himself like a man who'd been in charge all his life, and I immediately sensed his need for respect.

"I am very sorry, King Hamdo," Chubby grunted, saluting him. "He was giving the two of us some problems, so I pushed him, right, Kazam?"

He stared at Happy—who was now Kazam—and waited for him to back him up. I also looked at Kazam, nonverbally pleading for him to tell the truth, as I didn't want to take part in anything that could happen for what I'd supposedly done. Kazam looked at Chubby first, then to me, and finally to Hamdo, who he addressed with, "King Hamdo, the prisoner had done no such thing. My fellow soldier lies to you to protect himself."

"Is that so?" Hamdo said, eyeing Chubby.

"He lies!" Chubby protested, as he brought out his sidearm and pointed it at my savior. Instinctively, I reached for my taser, but the emptiness in my inside pocket let me know I no longer had it, something I should've already known.

I was spared having to find another way of saving Kazam when a gunshot from behind me nailed Chubby in the stomach, and he fell to the floor, trying to keep all of his insides from falling out. I felt the phantom pain of the bullet that Mary had fired at me two years previously, and slowly turned around to find its source, which came from the gun Hamdo waved madly into the air.

"The punishment for lying is death, you know," Hamdo said, changing tempos in his voice whenever he wanted to enunciate something important. "However, _Hellywood _is in need of soldiers to fight her battles, even those who lie to me, so I will spare you this once. When you awake in the hospital, remember my mercy and worship me."

Chubby tried to say something, but he was too far-gone in the pain of the wounds to say anything remotely coherent.

"Abelia?" Hamdo said into a connector.

He waited for the reply, while I wondered if he'd be able to make good on his promise to save Chubby. It was a very bad wound.

"Yes, King Hamdo?" Abelia's voice said from the other side.

"There is a malcontent in my garden who needs to be taught a lesson," he said. "But we need him alive, so first treat his wounds, then lock him in his room until he finds out what he is truly meant to do in my world."

"Yes, sir. Immediately, sir."

The connector crackled off and Hamdo stared at Kazam. "You may go now, my good and faithful soldier. You shall be rewarded for your honesty."

Kazam saluted Hamdo and said, "Yes, King Hamdo!"

Taking one last glance at me, Kazam went out the open door, leaving me alone with the man who'd just shot his own soldier. He and I looked back and forth between one another, as he waited for whoever was coming to gather the body. He smiled at me in a way that sent chills down my spine, but I maintained a solid composure and grinned at him.

Moments later a group of what looked like doctors took Chubby off our hands, while another group cleaned up the blood on the floor. As they finished their job, I checked out the garden, and was quite impressed. There weren't any plants that I could recognize, but, as my hypothesis was slowly turning into theory, I figured I wouldn't know them anyways, seeing as how they most likely were from part of the world I was not familiar with or they had evolved into new species since the time lapse Sara and me had experienced. There was one plant in particular that stood out, and it was the one that looked most like roses from back home, with some subtle differences beyond my ability to comprehend, as botany wasn't exactly my thing.

I felt something brushing up against my skin and looked down, astonished to see a black cat with immense whiskers and yellow eyes staring back at me. To tell the truth real quickly, I've always been more of a dog person, but I still kinda liked cats, although they never seemed to like me back. A sensation ran threw my mind and I had the bright idea to pet the cat, and it responded by purring.

"He seems to like you," Hamdo said, as I looked up to find he was standing right in front of me.

I hastily stood up straight and said, "He's a fine cat, sir."

"Yes, yes, he is. He has been with me ever since my father created him for me for my sixteenth birthday. You see, cats died out years ago, but their genetics remain."

I nodded, unsure of what to say next, but I decided on, "Your father must have been a very nice man to have given you such a great and precious gift."

Hamdo stared at me, never blinking for a ten second interval of time. Following the pause, his hands started to twitch and his muscles tensed up, just as he smacked the cat into a shrubbery. It cried out in surprise and repeated the action when it found itself slightly impaled by some thorns. Hamdo sunk his head and continued to tense up.

"I hated my father," he said, panting. "I killed him when he wouldn't listen to me one day. He wasn't fit to lead _Hellywood _to victory. The others couldn't see that I was right and hunted me down, forcing me to escape in _Hellywood_. They attacked me that day, and seek to kill me even now. Don't…ever…mention…_MY FATHER AGAIN!_"

He lifted his right hand to slap me, but he stopped right before he hit me. I never once flinched, owing more to the fact that I was scared out of my wits and couldn't move out of the way, rather than some noble form of heroism. Removing his hand from my face, Hamdo stalked over to another group of flowers.

"I wanted you to see these," Hamdo said, changing his mood and indicating some purple flowers whose petals were enclosed in the shape of a bell.

"And why would you want me to see them, King Hamdo?" I asked, wondering where he was going with this conversation.

"You have a bad heart, correct, Matthew?"

"Yes, sir, I do. If I aggravate it too much or work too hard, it starts to weaken and could end up killing me."

"And so you use those pills of yours to stop it from doing so?"

"Yes, sir."

"But you could run out of them?"

"Yes, King Hamdo," I said, mentally kicking myself for not even thinking about trying to find a way to conserve the pills. There was no way I could find a way to escape in time to save us before I ran out, especially considering all the stress I was under.

"Then we shall remedy that with this plant," Hamdo said. "They say it grows in abundance in Zari-Bars, but we have never seen it, so do not believe it just yet. It has been used before to halt illnesses such as yours. However I only hand out the medication to those I deem the most worthy of my subjects. Should you do as I ask, you will be supplied with it."

I faked appreciation. "Thank you, King Hamdo. I don't deserve such a grand gift from such a kind ruler as yourself."

"Yes, I am kind aren't I?" he said, laughing. "Just remember that I expect results, Matthew. If it looks like you are not doing what I ask, then I shall make my threat to your Sara reality."

I gulped. "I understand, sir. You will have no reason to ever do so."

I hated myself for agreeing then. I was supposed to be the hero, the guy who was supposed to find himself taken away from home with the damsel, but then turn the tables on the ones who'd taken us by disposing of their mad ruler and fleeing with the damsel back to the place we belonged. What kind of hero sells himself away to start building and designing machines that would be used to kill others, just to save the person he knew and his own skin? I couldn't think of any hero who'd done anything remotely like what I'd done.

Was it the coward's way out? Certainly not, it was the pragmatist's way to finding another means of resolving the situation. The heroes always had more support than I did, and they were fictional anyways, so it didn't matter what they did. They didn't exist; I did.

"Good, very good," Hamdo said in response to my oath of allegiance. "Then you have much work to be done. However, you are tired and must rest, so that you can have some time to think of all the wonderful toys you're going to give me tomorrow."

"It is more than I deserve, King Hamdo," I said, bowing down, hoping the social graces of the past continued on in this insane future.

Hamdo chuckled madly as I bowed down. "Oh, it has been so long since I've met someone with the proper disciplines royalty demands! You are my new favorite, well, except for Lala-Ru, of course."

"Of course, sir," I said, nodding, hoping to keep up the flattery in an attempt to keep me on his good side. I'd done well in that field, with the exception of mentioning Hamdo's father, but there was no way I could've known that was one of his berserk buttons, so I'd still done quite a remarkable job of making him happy.

"Now, come, come, we must have someone take you back to your cell," Hamdo said, collecting his cat and petting it. He walked over to the nearest wall and hit some kind of intercom, saying, "I need a guard to escort my newest friend back to his cell, please."

He seemed elated, like I actually was his newest friend, which, I guess, was true, seeing as how I was promising to use my own knowledge to find ways to construct war machines for the man. I was disgusted, but I held it inside me, knowing even the slightest incorrect body signal could ruin what I'd worked so hard to keep up. The man seemed to suffer from some sort of mental disease. Schizophrenia or bipolar disorder or something like that. Is megalomania a recognized personality disorder?

Moments later, an armed guard in his fifties came and saluted Hamdo, who then directed the man to take good care of me. He laughed heartily all the while, creeping me out.

The guard escorted me out of the room, while Hamdo threw his cat in the air, not even bothering to catch it when it fell to the ground. I've never been that much of a major supporter of PETA, because of their insane radicalism, but it's times like that when I realize people like Hamdo regularly abuse their pets and other animals. Like I said, cats weren't my favorite animal, but I still didn't want them to be treated like that.

My personal views on pet ownership would never see the light of day in that place of course, as all it would do was ruin our situation, so I continued with my new escort up until the point where we arrived at the cell. He opened the door with his keys, his back to me. Never in that entire passage of time had I ever been shackled or tied up, I had always had the ability to freely move my hands. If I'd wanted to, I could have grabbed the man's rifle and struck him in the back of the head, letting Sara and me start our own little prison riot, but I didn't, because there were too many uncertainties. I still needed to know where I could find the time travel room, and there were the other soldiers to consider, who most likely would kill us before we got there, so all I did was patiently wait as the guard took his time to open the door and walked inside when he motioned for me to do so.

The moment he locked the door behind me and walked away, I let out a massive sigh of relief, thanking God for giving me the clarity to not screw anything up by acting my usual self. I almost collapsed on the floor, but I recalled that it was nothing but metal, so I kept myself up and looked around for Sara, who was staring at me intently as she sat Indian style on the floor. She'd been crying, as I noticed the rabbit handkerchief her father had given her several years before for her birthday was wet. I can't blame her; I wanted to cry too.

"What is he going to make you do, Matt?" Sara asked, rising up and embracing me.

I hugged her back. "I'm not sure yet, Sara," I answered. "Nothing I want to do."

She pushed away from me and looked me in the eye. I stared right into the blue-hued irises and felt safer than I ever had in my entire time there.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

I shrugged. "It's not something I want to do, but I need to do it to keep you safe and to stall for time so I can figure out a way to get us back home. I have a feeling they wouldn't follow us, since we're not that important. However, if they did, all we'd have to do is tell my dad everything and he can hire some people to protect us. He'll believe us; he always has."

"But, Matt, you're making weapons for them. They're evil."

It was a generalization, but generalizations aren't always bad things, sometimes they're the best way to describe something. _Hellywood_ was evil.

"I know, sweetheart, but if I don't, they're going to kill me and take advantage of you. I will never let that happen. There's no way you're ever going to get hurt because of me."

Sara smiled. "That's very noble of you, Matt, but I can take care of myself you know."

"Never doubted you for a second, sweetheart."

"I'm sure you didn't. Don't forget I was the one who saved you first."

I laughed. "Cheap shot, Sara, come on."

She didn't smile, but returned to sitting in Indian style on the floor. "I want to go home."

I sat down beside her and put my hand around her shoulder. "I know, Sara, and I promise you we'll find home again."

As I tried to console Sara, I thought of what I could do the next day to make sure I could back my promise up, barely coming up with any answers at all.


	7. Chapter 7

Life in the desert is interesting to say the least. It's paradoxical in its climate. In the day, it's hotter than the trip my family took to Disneyworld in July, but at night it's cooler than the glare of a woman scorned offers. However, back home, our deserts still had at the very least one or two clouds in the sky. Moisture didn't seem to accumulate as well in the deserts surrounding _Hellywood_. There seemed to be no plant life outside of the ones stocked in Hamdo's gardens; not even cacti. This I particularly cursed, because contrary to popular belief, the cactus is only found in American deserts, and if I found that out, I could get a better sense of our location. Then again, since we'd been taken away so many years into the future, the possibility of the cactus going extinct was all but certain, not to mention the possibility of it expanding its range as a result of the climate.

I marveled at all this around what I assumed was five in the morning, because I had lost all recognition of the time of day, and I hadn't even bothered to stay asleep too long. I had no watch to tell the time, and I doubted the Greenwich Mean Time applied to this strange world anymore. The time seemed shorter somehow, like maybe the axis of rotation of the Earth was off or maybe it was because of the discoloration of the sun. I questioned this, because red giants—which I assumed the sun had turned into at the time—were supposed to be massive, and therefore the days would be longer, since more light would reach us and it was closer. However, astronomy isn't exactly my forte, so don't quote me. And besides, the stars didn't change into different phases of growth unless billions of ephemeral years had passed by.

That's when I had the first of many doubts.

If that were true, then that meant the Second Coming hadn't happened. Could those radical preachers I'd heard have been right? Were Sara and I in a world where everyone else was left behind? Would God even allow something like that to happen? Didn't He love me? Didn't He love Sara? Why had He let this happen to us? Had the two of us done something wrong to deserve this?

(I know that there are various end times theories out there, but I don't subscribe to just one. I'm of the opinion that God can do whatever the heck He wants. If He wants the believers to all be taken up in the Rapture, then by God that's how it's gonna happen. If He wants to just do it in some other way, it's not open to questioning, and by God it's gonna happen that way. However, at that point in my life, I wasn't as open-minded as I am now, so my options seemed limited.)

I heard Sara stirring to my right and I looked at her, smiling despite my growing doubts. I gently stroked the part of her blonde hair near her forehead. Sara had always liked it when I did this; it made her feel good, I don't think I've ever asked why, though, but I assume it's because it's the same thing her mother used to do whenever she sang her a lullaby. My musical talents nonexistent, she greatly appreciated my ability to withhold my horrendous singing voice from the world, but settled for the pleasant feeling of my fingers moving through her hair. I looked at the particular part of Sara's hair I was gently touching then and realized it was the spot that had caused the confusion with this Lala-Ru person. Apparently her hair was shaped the same way that Sara's was. What are the odds? If such things even exist in the first place.

I paused, wondering whom this Lala-Ru was. Hamdo seemed to think she was the key to ensuring his victory. Was she allied with him in some way? It didn't seem so, as they were all searching for her, and it sounded like she'd run away too. Maybe she was a potential ally against Hamdo. I didn't know about that; I wasn't sure if the person who was causing Sara so much grief deserved to be associated with us. I knew Sara would not be happy if that happened. She held a grudge more so than any other woman I've met, but then again my female contacts weren't exactly that numerous at any point in my life, so I'm not the best judge on that.

It was then that I recalled the fact that they'd gone all the way into our past to look for Lala-Ru. Somehow Lala-Ru had fled Hamdo and ended up in our past, sometime near us. Could Hamdo and Abelia miscalculated and ended up in San Diego instead of wherever Lala-Ru was? How did they even find Sara in the first place? Did they have a means of actively looking into the past? How did it work?

"Gah!" I hissed, hating all of the unanswered questions, almost waking Sara up.

Seeing her move, I calmed myself down, telling myself that I needed to keep a level head if I wanted to keep her safe.

_Sara Ringwalt,_ I swore silently, _I promise you I will get you out of here. Even if I have to stay here to let you go free, I will get you home, sweetheart. I just need to find out how I'm going to do that._

I held her left hand and kissed it. She was warm to the touch, so I checked her head to see if she had a fever, but I was making something out of nothing. She was perfectly healthy at the time. It's the hypochondriac in me.

A disturbance behind me brought the attention of three kids all wearing the dull yellow and nondescript uniforms of _Hellywood _soldiers. They varied in age from about seven to maybe thirteen. The leftmost from me was a short African-looking kid with black hair, next to him was a tall for his age tan kid also with black hair, followed by another kid with gray hair and what looked like a permanent scowl on his face. I disliked him immediately; he looked like trouble.

(Tangent time: It is not a good idea to judge people solely on their appearance. In fact that's almost always a bad idea, depending on the situation. Just because someone looks, uh, evil I guess, it doesn't mean they are. I mean, look at Winston Churchill; that man is ugly to the core, but he's also the single greatest leader Britain ever had. Oh, Lord help, you won't even know who Winston Churchill is, let alone what he looks like. This is terrible. This must be fixed. Rant over.)

"Place your hands behind your back and move slowly to the door," the older black-haired boy said. "We have been instructed to take you to your workshop."

I laughed; I couldn't help it. It was so ridiculous. The kid was maybe thirteen at the most, and here he was ordering me around.

"What the hell do you think is so funny?" the gray-haired boy asked.

"Well—" I started, but then I heard Sara's voice to my right, so I bent down to pay attention to her. I mean, what harm could have come from it? I was only dealing with children, anyways.

"Ma-Matt?" Sara asked, still drowsy from her sleep. "Was-What's goin' on?"

"Just some kids, sweetheart," I said. "Apparently their guardians thought it'd be a good idea to let them roam freely into a jail cell. I'll deal with them."

"We're not just kids!" the smaller boy shouted. "We're soldiers!"

I turned to face him, saw how adorable the kid was, and laughed again. "Oh, sure you are, kid. And while we're at this fun game of pretend, I'm Captain Kirk, and I have been captured by the native populace of _Hellywood_ 5 to be sacrificed to their mysterious god Water, in the hopes of providing the real thing."

"We are not playing games," the tan-colored boy said.

"Sure, kid. Whatever floats your boat. Oh wait, that can't happen now, because there isn't any water. Why don't you guys go back home so the adults here can get some decent sleep? Playtime's over."

"I've had enough of him!" the gray-haired kid said as he snatched some keys from the tan-colored boy and opened the cell door.

"What is this?" I asked as I watched him push the door open. "Bring your kid to work day? How in God's name did you get the keys, kid?"

"How dare you say that!" the one with the gray hair said. "I'm a soldier of _Hellywood_, serving under the great King Hamdo!"

He brandished a knife and held it to my neck, making me realize the severity of my ridicule. I couldn't believe it; this kid was about to kill me. He barely looked like he was thirteen; maybe he was even younger than that. The African-looking kid had to be at least seven. What the hell were they doing with weapons? Where the hell was I?

"Matt!" Sara screamed as she rose up. "Leave him alone you little bastard!"

Sara rushed over to me and reached for the knife, but missed it when the boy tried to slash her as well. She fell when she lost her balance on the hard floor, but she was still okay. I couldn't reach her, because the kid was focused on me now.

"That is enough, Tabool!" the one with black hair said when he grabbed Tabool's shoulder. "King Hamdo would not be pleased if you harmed one of his most valuable assets. If you do that we're all going to suffer the consequences."

So that's what I was now? A "valuable asset". Wonderful.

Tabool lowered his knife as he glared into the other's eyes. "Whatever you say, Nabuca."

Nabuca nodded. I gathered that he was in charge of this unit.

Using the brief respite, I helped Sara pick herself off the floor and we checked each other out for injuries, finding none. "The next time someone threatens to kill me with a knife close to my neck, sweetheart, I'd prefer it if you'd hold off your very much appreciated protectiveness, or next time I might not have an intact neck," I said, offering a smile, hoping she'd laugh, but Sara didn't take the bait.

"I'm sorry, Matt," she said. "I just saw him with the knife and didn't think about what I was doing."

I kissed her on the cheek; glad to know she was fine. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained, beautiful." I turned around to seek out the one who'd just stopped Tabool from carving up my face and said, "Thank you for your help, Nabuca. My name is Matthew. Please call me Matt."

He looked at me, incredulous at my response, but quickly recovered. "I don't care who you are or what your name is, but I will protect you so long as you are an asset to _Hellywood_. Should you do anything other than what you're supposed to do, I would then gladly kill you. Don't do anything stupid."

So there I was with some twelve-year-old kid lecturing me about not being stupid, or then he'd have to kill me. I didn't know what to think; these kids were all anomalies. They were supposed to be just waking up and heading off to school right now, not trying to escort me to a workshop.

_Oh, no, do they employ child labor as well? _I asked myself. _What kind of sadistic bastard gets children to fight his battles for him? _

Chastising myself for the less than Biblical query, I nodded. "I understand. Take me to where I'm supposed to be."

Sara gave me a look of worry, but I held up my hand. If our stress levels kept up like this, we'd both end up with premature wrinkles, and I imagine Sara wouldn't really like that change in her appearance. I didn't tell her this, because then she'd have smacked me for bringing up her looks, which she was a sore subject for her, as she'd suffered from a cruel tormentor in her old school who made fun of her appearance. The reason for this unreasonable behavior was because the tormentor was jealous of Sara's natural beauty and wanted her to feel like it was a curse. Unfortunately it had worked all too well, and Sara was just now getting over it, so bringing it up wasn't going to help her calm down.

Nabuca sighed and turned around to the small kid, saying, "Boo, take out the handcuffs and put them on his hands."

"Yes, sir!" the newly named Boo piped up as he produced the handcuffs and placed them on my hands.

"What is wrong with you people?" I asked, unable to contain myself. "He's like seven, man, and you're not much older. Where the heck are your parents?"

It's innocence like this that gets a man killed in a desolate wasteland of a world. There are certain cruelties of life men like me aren't aware of because of our cozy and rich existence in our homes, which are fully paid off and stable to live in. Of course there were children with guns escorting me, why shouldn't there be? It had been the norm for millions of kids even in my own time; I was just too blinded by the safety of home to notice. Luckily, Nabuca, who stopped my new friend Tabool from bringing out his gun, saved me from such a blunder.

"That's none of your concern," Tabool said, forcing me forward as he scowled once more at Nabuca.

"You sure are stupid," Boo said in that cutesy voice of his. "Don't you know anything?"

No, Boo, I didn't know anything at the time. I knew no other life than America, and despite misfortunes I'd brought on myself, I'd never faced any problems before.

I took one last glance at Sara and tried to smile, mangling it into something more like a misbegotten Rorschach blot than an actual smile, but Sara returned it all the same. At least she'd settled down some more in the two days we'd been there.

Whistling to the tune of "Heigh-Ho", I followed my compatriots to the place where I was going to figure out how to help Hamdo to keep Sara safe.

"Are the handcuffs really necessary, Nabuca?" Boo asked a while later. "Even if he escapes, where's he gonna go? The desert?"

"He stays in them," Tabool said. "He's a prisoner."

Nabuca took a quick glance at me and I beamed innocence at him. "Yet he is also in need of his hands if he is to work for King Hamdo. By placing him in these bonds, we may have weakened his ability to work, so I will release him. If he even moves wrong, though, I'll make sure he never does it again."

"Works for me," I said.

I tried to form an opinion on Nabuca. He seemed reasonable enough. He certainly looked like a nice guy, and he had saved me from Tabool, but I picked up a vibe from him that blared out the fact he listened to his superiors and them alone. I was not one of his superiors, so therefore he wouldn't listen to me like I'd want. I figured to stay on his good side was a very practical idea.

Nabuca stepped behind me and I halted, bringing my hands to a position to where he could get them out better. A moment later they were gone and my hands free. Using the new movement to my advantage I tested them out real quickly to see how they felt. I'd never been in handcuffs before, so this was a new experience for me.

"Thanks," I said a little bit later after I found them workable.

"There's no need to thank me," Nabuca said. "I only did it because your hands suit King Hamdo better unbound. Do anything to prove me wrong and that will be the only position you know for the rest of your stay here."

_Seriously, _I thought as we continued down the hallway, _what is wrong with these kids? Did Santa Claus put them on the naughty list or something? I don't get this. _

As we marched on down the hall, I got a sudden feeling to check my pant pocket. Acting on such a whim, I inspected it, and located the silver cross necklace my mother had given me the year before for Christmas. Taking it as a sign of God for reasons I didn't yet understand, I placed it around my neck.

"So you're one of them," Tabool said, smirking.

"One of who?" I asked.

"The Disciples. Those pacifist morons who're trying to say what King Hamdo is doing is wrong. They're almost as bad as Zari-Bars."

"Well, I don't know about any disciples in your world, but back in mine, I'm by definition a Christian. Baptist if you want to get technical. What can you tell me about these Disciples?"

"They're really nice people," Boo said, bringing my attention to him. "They may not like _Hellywood_ or us soldiers, but they still treat us good whenever they find us lost on the battlefield. They've even helped heal the people who bring them into captivity."

"A foolish tactic," Nabuca said with a hint of disdain. "If they really didn't like us that much, then they would kill any soldier who came near them. They're a group of nomads who have no real home or country to call their own. Their true numbers are unknown, but they have been estimated to be in the millions. Our orders are to shoot them on sight, because they have managed to sway several of our soldiers to their side, and when we find them, the ex-soldiers refuse to even fight back. That necklace you have is their symbol."

"Huh," I said, pondering this new information.

Maybe there was hope yet for my questions. These people certainly sounded like Christians in some respects. Maybe I could find some of the nomads, stage an escape with Sara, find them, and then figure out a way back home. If they were alive, then maybe there were also some Jewish populations in this world as well.

(You may question why I bring them up as well, so I'll explain. Christianity came to be as the results of Jesus Christ, a Jewish man, but also the Son of God. The Bible tells the story of how God made a promise with Abraham to make a mighty nation from his descendants and that He would make them His children, promising to never let them die out as a nation until the time of judgment. If every single Jewish man, woman, and child was gone from this world, then everything I believed in was a lie. It meant that God had failed to keep up His part of the bargain, and therefore He didn't exist, which then would render my very existence worthless, because what's the point? If God doesn't exist, then why should we even bother living? More on this later.)

"Well, at least they're better than those Zionists," Tabool said.

_Hallelujah! _I thought. _He is listening to me!_ _Thank you, Lord! I don't deserve this answer, especially the speed in which You provided it!_

"And what's wrong with these Zionists?" I asked.

"They're similar to the Disciples, but they actually fight back," Tabool explained. "It's rumored some of them live in Zari-Bars. They're a menace."

_Leave it to the Hebraic people to one-up us in such a great way, _I thought, as I smirked inwardly. _Those are some hardy people. That is…if they are Hebrews._

The doubt lingered. Did I really expect myself to believe that potentially millions or billion of years later, both Christianity and Judaism had survived? Even if they had miraculously done so, their belief systems would be radically different from the ones I was familiar with. Faith is a fickle thing sometimes. The belief in the unseen isn't exactly the easiest thing to believe in to tell the truth.

"This conversation is getting us nowhere," Nabuca said. "Both of these tribes are enemies of King Hamdo and will be dealt with when the times is right. I would advise you to hide that symbol. Some of the soldiers here might shoot you without knowing the consequences of such an action."

It was sound advice, but not what I wanted to hear. I still believed; I had to; it was all I had to hold on to. I gently lifted the cross with my right hand to stare at it.

Was it worth possibly getting killed to even have this out? Was I a strong enough person to handle the adversity involved? I'd never had my faith particularly tested before, this was another new experience. What if something happened to me because of this and Sara suffered as a result? Was I willing to take the sacrifices involved to keep her safe? Hell yeah, I was. Ha-ha, I love hypocrisy.

"Thanks for the advice, Nabuca, but if it's all the same to you, I'd rather keep this out in the open," I said, grinning.

Nabuca shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

It was at that time when we reached our destination: The workshop set aside for my own use to build or perfect these machines for Hamdo.

I stopped in front of the doorway to inspect the letters on the sign that hung on top of the small section of wall that connected the doorway to the ceiling. They were the very same Arabic-like symbols I'd seen before, but now, thanks to my translator, I could see them in perfect English once I focused on them. It said "War Machine Assembly Line".

"Huh, subtle," I remarked.

"You will do whatever you see fit to help out our war effort," Nabuca said. "For now I am leaving Boo here to make sure you do as you have been told. You will have food and water sent to you when it is deemed appropriate. Do not waste any water that you are given. It is worth more than your life."

"What about—?" I started to ask, but I was cut off.

"Your friend is being taken care of. She will be fed and given water to drink at regular intervals, but only if you work."

I nodded. "I see. Very well, then, come on, Boo, it's time to get to work."


	8. Chapter 8

I got to work immediately, as I placed the mental notes I'd made the night before on the paper-like material they had given me once I'd asked for it. And it's kind of interesting how that happened. Back home we had these marvelous things called pens and pencils to write things down on, but in this world, all I had to do was speak into a little microphone and it copied down word for word what I said. It makes me wonder if we ever could have made something like this back in the day.

I'd been thinking just what exactly I'd do when it came down to this moment, as my technical skills weren't the best in the world yet. I'd taken a couple classes in various fields of engineering back home, and had passed with flying colors, but they were really nothing compared to this. I had to actually design these promised technologies from my memory, not exactly the greatest source to turn to.

Sighing, I rubbed my eyes and debated whether to pray or not for guidance. It was so out of character for me to even consider not doing something like that. I had always prayed, regardless of the situation, even when my paternal grandparents had died, I had prayed for a way to understand what had happened. For some reason my situation was different now. This may have had something to do with the fact I was working to keep my girlfriend from getting violated in a world that made no sense.

Scanning the room for some inspiration, I ended up laying my eyes on Boo, who had his fingers on his holstered handgun. He looked so off, and I knew why: The kid was too young to be in this situation. He should be outside building sandcastles in the dunes, not being posted on guard duty to watch over me.

I continued to stare at him. There was something off about him. I couldn't put my finger on it at the time, but I've finally realized what was bothering me so much.

I'd heard many scientists say and publish journals on the eventual oneness the human race would reach. One day in the near future, they said, we will all blend in with one another, creating a species that lacks different pigmentations, rendering all racism irrelevant, since we'd all look the same. If I recall correctly, we'd be some sort slight mix of a lightly brown color and much more evolved. The scientists debated on when this sort of thing would happen, but all agreed it was inevitable within a couple thousand of years, mostly due to the, uh, globalization, I think, of the world. No longer were we all isolated in our own pockets of the world. If I wanted to talk to some guy in Japan, all I would've had to do would be to pick a computer with one of those camera things and start up a conversation with him, either that or pick up a phone.

It was almost like God was directing a take that to the idiots who'd dared say that His designs weren't good enough. I tend to agree with the Big Man, since a monochrome world is a bland world.

This world was nothing like that. We certainly were in the future, that I knew for an absolute fact. Whether I was in some parallel dimension on the other hand, was still in question, but I didn't think it'd matter; we'd end up with the same conundrum. Boo had darker skin than the tanner Nabuca, and the human race was still abundant in its own supply of colors.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Boo asked. "Shouldn't you be working?"

Snapping back to reality, I sent a disarming smile Boo's way. "Sorry, kid, but I was thinking about something I used to hear back on my world. I didn't mean to get so distracted."

"What do you mean 'your world'? Don't you mean our world?"

I shook my head. "Nope. I'm from the past, kid. This is what I assume is the far future of my world."

"Stop calling me a kid!" Boo demanded. "I'm a soldier!"

He brought out his sidearm and started swishing it in the air. I stared at him, as I tried not to laugh, but it came out anyways. I couldn't help it; the kid was so darn cute. I didn't even care that he had a weapon in his hands that could easily end my life.

"What's so funny?" he demanded.

I sobered up. No matter my feelings on the matter, the truth remained: Boo was a soldier and my life was in his twitching hands.

"I'm sorry, Boo," I said, trying to calm him down. "I didn't mean to offend you, it's just that I'm not used to seeing someone like you holding deadly weapons. I come from a country where people your age don't need to worry about stuff like this."

Boo slowly lowered the gun and holstered it once more. However, before he could speak up, a woman's voice—unmistakably Abelia's—demanded to know, "What is going on here?"

Frightened by her sudden appearance through the doorway, Boo flinched, but I took up the slack for him, "Nothing, ma'am. Boo and I were just discussing what I was doing for King Hamdo. He got overly excited and started to yell out his joy at the prospect of helping him win this war. It's my fault, really."

Abelia looked at me, her piercing eyes investigating my body language for any signs that I was lying, but I gave no such thing up. I'm an expert liar, and I know it's not a very Christian principle to live by, but I'll leave the theological debates on lying to protect others to people with more time on their hands. I prefer to think I'll find out the day I die in this world, along with everything else I should've known better about. Until then I don't have an answer, so it's up to you to decide, sweetheart, so make it.

"Very well, then, I see no problem here," Abelia said, staring at Boo. "However, should another outburst like that happen again, soldier, then I shall have you whipped."

Boo tensed up; I couldn't blame him. He still saluted Abelia saying, "Yes, sir!"

"Good, now that this is out of the way, I have something for you, Matthew."

Thinking—and thank God that's all I did—to myself, I said, _But my birthday isn't until two months from now. You shouldn't have. _

"And what would that be, ma'am?" I asked.

Abelia produced a box from the hands of a soldier I hadn't even noticed being there and walked over to me. I accepted the gift and opened it up, finding the broken remnants of my taser.

"You are to rebuild this and instruct us on how to mass produce them," Abelia said.

I nodded. "Immediately, ma'am."

"Failure to do so within two day's time will result in your friend losing her safety. Am I understood?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good, now proceed."

She left the room with her escort, while I returned to my work desk, taking out all of the components that had been dismembered in the original fight.

"Why did you do that?" Boo asked me a moment later, breaking my thoughts.

"Huh?" I asked. "Why'd I do what?"

"Why did you lie to her to save me?" Boo asked again, his voice rising. "No one's stupid enough to do that. What if she'd found out you lied?"

"Then I'd deal with it," I replied. "I'm not going to let someone get hurt because of some stupid rule about flogging soldiers who can't get too passionate to talk quietly. Besides, it's not something you should have to go through. Despite what you think, you are too young to experience that. Oh, and I bet you'd do the same for me if things came down the same way."

I could tell by his shuffling feet and bent head that maybe I'd misjudged his ability to do the same for me, but I didn't care, he was just a kid following orders. Aren't we all at some point in our lives?

"Ah, don't worry about it, man," I said, smiling. "I'm asking too much of you, too soon. Besides, I need to be working anyways."

Boo nodded. He still looked awful, but at least he wasn't about to cry on me. Some part of me guessed he'd gotten rid of crying a fair time ago.

I, on the other hand, knew the power of tears.

* * *

Boo continued to be my guard the next day I came back. The previous one had been filled with little or no progress and I was getting worried. I only had one more day left to finish things up.

I tried not to dwell on the what-ifs that assaulted my mind while I worked. They told me I'd fail and Sara was as good as jailbait, if I may be so crude. I told them to shut the hell up and focused on my task.

The taser was almost completely worthless now, or so I thought. It had been so damaged by my escapades that I doubted my ability to resurrect it.

Staring into the computer interface given to me by my request, I tried to figure out a way to fix it.

My father's voice entered my mind, reminding me of something I really should have known about, "Son, the taser is an effective weapon for self-defense, but, as with all weapons, it is only as good as the user who wields it. The most powerful weapon in the world in incompetent hands can trigger doomsday for those who use it without knowing the consequences. To fully understand any weapon, you must break it down and rebuild it from the ashes. Only then can the two of you figure each other out."

I nodded in agreement at what was then the present. My father, being a vet, knew more than enough about guns and other assorted instruments of death. If there were any one person I trusted completely to teach me how to defend myself, it was him.

I mumbled the instructions to myself, starting by gathering the pieces I needed to begin the first step to reconstruction.

"The doohickey's connected to the thingamajig," I sang, smirking at the song my father had taught me to simplify things.

Connecting the inner parts of the taser, I marveled at how quickly I was getting through this. It was second nature to me to put things back together. The only reason I'd failed to do so earlier was because I was suffering from "engineer's block", in other words my own doubt on being able to finish on time.

Laughing at my own wit, I continued the process, eventually finishing a good five minutes later. Not my best time, but with the damage I dealt with, it was good enough.

"Eureka!" I proclaimed upon a job well done, making Boo jump in the air.

"What?" he asked when he recovered. "What?"

I presented my newly formed taser. "I'm done. Now all I have to do is get a hold of Abelia and she can test it o—"

I paused. What would she do to test it out? Surely not on another person, it was just so inhuman, but then again none of them had ever claimed to be anything but. Was Sara's safety worth causing someone else harm?

_Sara's safety or harming another person? _I asked myself. _If I do this she's safe, at least until the next time a demand is made of me, then we're back where we started. Son of a…Oh, not that now. I'm in a godforsaken Catch-22. When do the ends start to justify the means?_

"What's wrong?" Boo asked as he stood in front of me. I'd been so consumed by my moral dilemma that I hadn't even known he was moving near me. "You don't look so good."

I panted, my muscles tensing up, and looked over at one of the metallic objects in the room where I could get a good reflection of myself, finding I was sweating profusely and trembling madly.

_Your heart, idiot, calm down,_ I commanded myself. _He thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts. He thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts. _

Breathing normally again, I looked at Boo and said, "I'm sorry you had to see that, Boo. I'm not in the best state of mind right now."

"Why?" he asked.

It was an innocent question, one you'd expect a kid to ask, even one who had undoubtedly seen many horrors in his own life.

"I was taken here against my will with my girlfriend, because they thought she was Lala-Ru," I answered. "Now I've got to help them or they'll kill me and hurt her. I haven't gotten used to it yet."

"But you have to!" he shouted, surprising me. "If you help them win, they'll take all of us back to our families and we can live normal lives again! You have to believe in King Hamdo to do what he promised!"

Boo's face was a myriad of pure emotion. Parts of it showed his doubt at his own words, but the majority of it showed how much he desperately wanted to believe it was true, with the rest revealing he'd given in to the half-truths.

"If that's what you say, Boo, then I believe in you," I said, smiling through the lie. "You're a good kid—I mean, soldier. I'm glad you were sent here to guard me, so that I could find out these things from a friendly face."

Continuing to smile, I noticed Boo's reaction of incredulousness. Obviously the poor kid had never had someone treat him right a day in his life, and, seeing as how he had slightly mentioned that Hamdo's soldiers had taken him away from home, I could understand why.

Eventually though, he brightened up and smiled. It was one of those smiles you want your kids to have, because it tells you that you've provided a place where they can live happily. I'd like to think it could happen even now.

"Am I interrupting something?" the cool, commanding voice of Nabuca asked as he entered the room.

"Not at all, friend," I said, smiling at him as well, but his face remained the epitome of dullness. "Boo and me were just connecting."

"I see. Boo, I am taking over for you, so that you may get something to eat. Tell the cooks to bring his meal as well when you are finished."

"Yes, sir!" Boo said as he walked away, but he was stopped by the presence of two figures I really didn't need to see that day: Hamdo and Abelia.

Hamdo stepped in the room first, followed closely by Abelia. Nabuca and Boo instantly saluted him, making me do the same. He grinned at me and floated over to my work desk, and, upon seeing the completed taser, gasped in surprise.

"Oh, how splendid," he said, grinning wildly. "You've completed it earlier than I had expected. And what are these?"

He pointed to some papers I'd set apart to draw the schematics of the taser that I'd done yesterday out of necessity, just in case I actually had to build a new one from scratch before my deadline was up.

"How does this work?" Abelia asked.

"Electricity, pure and simple," I replied.

"I see, then it is worthless," Hamdo said, walking away as he snarled.

"What?" I said, my jaw dropping.

"To get electricity, we need water, and we cannot afford to waste it, even on devices such as these, which could be of great use to us," Abelia answered.

Okay, I realize the fact that water is a scarcity in this world, but there is no way in hell every single person gains electricity from the rarest source in the world. What had happened to nuclear power? What, had everybody seen _The China Syndrome_ (which, I have to honestly say I've never seen) and decided to just get rid of it? Could they have forgotten how it worked? There were other ways to generate electricity, a great multitude in fact, so why waste perfectly good water on power? Why not solar energy? They were in the middle of a godforsaken desert with no cloud cover, how hard is it to harness that?

Then it dawned on me: Maybe they had forgotten and they were always meant to lose the technology to do so. Maybe if they actually had the keys to start up the capability of utilizing solar energy, they'd be unstoppable. Maybe they'd really take over the world and Lala-Ru would become irrelevant, since I was guessing she had some ability to control certain energies Hamdo wanted.

What could I do? Where was the line going to be crossed? If I brought up this simple alternative, they'd use it to kill other people. I couldn't let that happen, even for Sara's sake. I loved her, but she'd never forgive me for something like this.

_Then lie a little, _I told myself. _Tell them about harnessing the solar energy, but say it can't be used for large objects, otherwise they burn out because of the massive intake of energy. It's not scientifically believable, but they don't know that, and besides, it's not like they can disprove you either. You've worked on solar generators before, so it should be easy to make a simple one to power something as small as a taser. _

I was referring to a project my dad had set up for me to go out on, back when I was thinking about focusing on going to college for engineering. He told me of an old friend of his who was trying to set up some solar generators in the desert a couple of miles away from my home in order to help power some of the nearby homes as an experiment to see if switching every home to solar energy was efficient. I'd worked there for two weeks, intimately figuring out everything I'd ever need to know about the inner workings of solar power. It was perfect.

Grinning inwardly, I said, "Wait, King Hamdo, I have a proposal for you. One that could work past this problem."

Hamdo turned around and faced me, his hands behind his back. "Then tell me."

"Back in my time, we had these things called solar generators, which took power from the sun to make things work. They were real simple devices and didn't work on what we wanted them to at first, because we tried to put them in our largest weapons. We found out that they weren't meant to be used in big things, because then they'd explode, so we found a way to make small versions of them and power everything that was tiny enough to withstand the large amounts of energy. Tasers are just small enough to be able to contain the sun's powers. I can show you how to build them to power the tasers, which you can then use against your enemies."

Someone once told me that lying is an art form; I think it's just a simple case of being smart enough to pull it off, which I tend to do, for good or bad.

Hamdo's eyes widened with excitement and he cackled. "Use the energy of the sun you say? Your people are absolutely splendid! I wish I had a hundred times as many brilliant people like you working for me! Abelia, do you know what this means?"

"That we can afford to do this without hurting our water supply, sir?" she responded coldly.

"Absolutely! You start immediately on these, Matthew! I want results!"

"Yes, King Hamdo!" I said.

"Now, all that remains is proof of what you say," he said, switching emotions quicker than a wailing infant. His face was blank.

The moment I had been dreading ever since I'd realized it would inevitably come to pass presented itself before me, mocking my choices.

Sara or someone else? Either way someone gets hurt.

"What would you like me to do, sir?" I asked.

"Hmm," Hamdo said, trying to find a target. "Why not test it out this little boy right here? This will be much quicker."

I looked in the direction that his finger pointed at, finding it directed at Boo, who I'd all but forgotten was there in the excitement. He stared back at Hamdo in horror, as Nabuca tried not to let his own fear show, but he failed miserably.

"King Hamdo, sir, this isn't your fault for not knowing this, since you don't know too much about tasers, but if you hit a child, then the chances of them dying are very high and it could even paralyze him," I said. "Why not test it on a healthy adult?"

"It's not my fault, eh?" Hamdo said, eyeing me. "It's not my fault? How dare you judge me, boy! I am perfection in this world filled with imperfections! You will do what I say or I will force you to shoot the one who came with you!"

I froze in place. What had I done wrong? I'd phrased my statement in a way that wasn't intended to show any disrespect to him, yet he still stormed at me. Was there anything I could do to say it right?

Sara or someone else? Sara or Boo?

I could never hurt Sara, but I wasn't about to harm—maybe even kill—a child, even if that child was a soldier.

Sara or Boo?

Damnation or Damnation?

I grabbed the taser off of the table and aimed it at Boo, shouting, "Forgive me, Boo!"

* * *

For once I wasn't thrown in my cell, and I'd actually walked in there without any fresh bruises. Nabuca had escorted me back, unable to rush Boo to the medical wing because Hamdo ordered him to go with me.

I tried to say something to him. Tell him I was sorry, but the words just wouldn't come out.

"You don't have to say anything, Matthew," Nabuca said, fully grasping my unique situation. "It was a success. You should be proud of the effort you've made on King Hamdo's behalf."

He was half-lying. I could tell. He was more worried than he'd admit, and he hated me for choosing his friend over Sara.

However, Nabuca never gave me a chance to respond, because he locked the jail cell door and left the room.

I hung on the door, trying not to cry. I'd just shot a seven- or eight-year-old boy with a godforsaken taser! What the hell was I thinking?

I banged my fist into the nearest metal, breaking my hand in the process. I howled with pain, as I cursed aloud my stupidity, using words Sara had never heard come out of my mouth.

Sara walked over to me and put a knowing hand on my shoulder, but I pushed it off and walked over to the opposite side of the cell, where I sat watching the desert as it faded away while the sun set.

Sighing, Sara went back to her side of the cell and sat down, knowing I'd open up eventually. She waited the customary ten minutes I normally requested she follow before she brought up a sore subject again. It's one of Sara's most amazing qualities: The ability to deal with me, even when I'm being a prick, which happens more than I'd like to admit.

Meanwhile, I'd lost control of my tear ducts, and they ran down my face, slowly evaporating in a wasteland that would not give up what it had taken away.

Her waiting time over, Sara came over to me and sat down. "What happened, Matt?" she asked, trying to soothe me with her voice, the one I always looked forward to hearing. "Please tell me. You know I'm here for you."

I nodded, wiping away the latest series of tears that exited my eyes. "I did what they told me to." I shook my head, trying to tell myself it was a lie, but the truth found itself an outlet and the tears returned.

"They…didn't hurt you today, did they?"

I shook my head. "Well, not physically."

"Please tell me what's wrong, Matt. I can't stand it when you're like this."

Neither can I, Sara. Neither can I.

"You know how I told you yesterday that I was working on rebuilding my taser?" I asked.

"Yes, I remember," Sara answered, looking confused.

I looked at her, finding I hadn't been the only one who'd been crying that day.

"Well, I managed to fix it, but they wanted me to test it…" I said, trailing off.

"On a person?" Sara asked, shocked.

"He was just a kid, Sara. Not even old enough to know the first thing about how the world works. Hamdo came in and inspected what I'd done. He told me to shoot Boo, the kid, to test the taser. He said if I didn't shoot him, then he'd make me shoot you."

Sara's eyes widened and she tensed up.

"Why is all this happening to me?" I demanded, looking away from her. "What have I done to deserve this?"

"Why is this happening to you? What about me?"

"What about you?" I asked, puzzled. "All you've had to do is sit in this cell all day long."

Contrary to popular belief, ignorance is not bliss; ignorance is godforsaken.

She slapped me. "You think you're the only one who's hurting, Matt!" Sara shouted. "You think the only thing I've done is stay here all day? Take a look at this!"

She pulled aside her hair and revealed the telltale scars on the spot where some other person, maybe Schmerz, had placed a translation device in her head. Unlike mine, it looked like a professional had actually worked on it.

I didn't understand; I'd done everything right. I'd given Hamdo what he wanted. Why was she being submitted to the same torture I had been?

"Oh, Sara, no," I said, stuttering a couple other words of no importance.

Minutes passed before I could garner the courage to speak up again. "Why did they do it to you?"

Sara looked away from me for a moment, clearly not ready to divulge every detail. "Some of the guards were telling me what they were going to do with me once, and I quote, 'Your worthless lover failed', to do the job you were supposed to do. One of them decided that was too long a wait and came here to…"

She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. I took my hand and wrapped it around her shoulder, hoping what I feared wasn't true.

"He tried to…to get me," Sara continued. "But I wouldn't let him. I hit him over the head with the tray they'd given me for my food and knocked him out. The other guard came in and restrained me. He took me to that Abelia woman and she ordered me to be taught proper discipline, so they did the same thing they did to you to me."

She looked at me for reassurance. I didn't know what to say. I was so conflicted with every thought that entered my mind. I wanted to kill the guy who tried to rape her, I was proud that Sara handled herself well enough on her own, I was horrified that this could have happened even though I was working on making it not never happen, and I hated Hamdo and Abelia for being so…so, I don't even know the proper word to describe the way I thought about them.

"We'll make it through this, Matt," she said a moment later. "We have to."

I nodded. "You're right, Sara. This will never happen again. I'm sorry I've been so selfish. I haven't even thought about trying to get them to bring you something to do while you wait here. Something good, I mean."

"It's okay, Matt. I'll manage without doing something to pass the time."

She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. I repeated the process.

In a destitute world that hated us, at least we had each other.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: This chapter is one of the reasons I decided to make this story T-rated. However, there is nothing too graphic, as I wish to continue the same spirit and restraint that _Now and Then, Here and There_ showed when it came to serious issues like this. I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 9

Quick, name the worst thing you've done to protect the person you love the most in this world.

Lied to someone else to keep your loved one safe? Hurt someone else to keep your loved one safe? Something else?

I wish it were that simple for me.

In my first two weeks on _Hellywood_, I learned a lot about the realities of life. The entire battle station—because that's what it was—consisted of over five thousand men, women, and children, all of whom had some part to play in Hamdo's mad machinations. Men were assigned to the army and crafted into the perfect killing machines. Women were assigned to "entertainment purposes", a title so vague it encompasses all manners of sexual slavery, cooking, cleaning, and other acts both useful and despicable in nature. Young girls were raised by the older women and taught the very same things they had to do to stay alive in _Hellywood_. Young boys were tutored alongside the men in the arts of war, and brainwashed into thinking Hamdo was their salvation, with Abelia and the battle station of _Hellywood_ acting as some perverted Trinity.

Everyone served a purpose to keeping _Hellywood_ afloat. I did as well. My job was designing and amalgamating the machines I was familiar with to make them suitable for the war machines Hamdo had at his disposal.

Everyone served a purpose to helping spread the greatness of Hamdo's might.

Sara did not.

True, she helped me out whenever I needed her, and I tried to push for her to have more freedoms, so that she didn't spend every single day just sitting in a cell. I managed to bribe a guard with promises of water supplies into letting Sara at the very least come with me while I worked and stretch her legs out. The cell was far from tiny, but it was also a cell, and the idea of being imprisoned for the rest of her life didn't enthuse Sara very much for some reason.

Covertly, she was accessing the records I'd asked to have that gave me a detailed plan of _Hellywood's _schematics and history, all in an effort, supposedly, to find out new ways to improve existing systems, and, true to my word, I did. Energy dispersal in the massive station was awful to say the least. So much precious power was lost because of faulty equipment or negligent workers, so I assigned work crews—under Hamdo's orders of course—to begin fixing them, all the while trying to find the room that would bring Sara and I back to the past.

The room itself was easy to find, but getting inside and figuring it out was another thing in and of itself. I'd gained much knowledge of how some of these futuristic devices worked, but nothing as complicated as the time tunnel, as I dubbed it. For one I didn't have a clue as to how it worked or how many laws of physics it was defying. So, for the moment, I abandoned my plans of exploiting possible access to it, as I just wasn't ready to work it out correctly.

To make up for my lack of information, Sara studied the histories held in the vast records of _Hellywood_, trying to locate some clue as to how far along in the future we were. I'd shared before my hypothesis of possible billions of years, due to the rate the sun was decaying, but I still had nothing concrete to base that on, so Sara and I still debated what we could know was truth.

Sara, however, proved to be very useful in deciphering the rich and complicated history of the country _Hellywood_ had originated from.

The country was a place called Das Paradies, a phrase that had to be some form of German loanword, because it meant "The Paradise", an odd name if there ever was one for a country located solely in the desert. The continuation of repeating German words in a language clearly based on Arabic puzzled me, and I still have no real answers for this discrepancy. Yet another thing lost to the annals of time.

Das Paradies had been a country for, according to the records, over seven hundred years, as determined by the changes of the sun on the yearly calendar. (My earlier hunch about the time differences had proven correct, but why this happened was still a problem I couldn't answer.) It had been founded by the survivors of an event known as the Sixth Great Cataclysm, which had been the reversal of the climate the people had lived in from a temperate zone to the desolate wasteland that surrounds us today. It was never once explicitly stated on whether or not the Cataclysm was manmade or ecological in nature, but all sources agreed it had forever changed the world, like the First Great Cataclysm had done an untold time ago.

The First Great Cataclysm was also called the Quickening, a moniker used to help describe the vast change from civilization to barbarism. The true cause of this descent into madness was unknown, which bugged me the most, because I had an idea that this was what had jumpstarted the world I'd known into the one it had developed into today.

Sara was unable to uncover any substantial information on the Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Great Cataclysms either, further miring my questions.

Das Paradies had fought against the last Cataclysm by trying to restore their own civilization, which proved to be a massive success for the first three hundred years of their history. However, that had changed the moment the Seventh Great Cataclysm had occurred.

Whether the histories are deliberately lying or not in an effort to throw off the blame for their actions, I don't know, but what I do know is that all sources we'd read before the Seventh Great Cataclysm always spoke of the sun being yellow. Something or someone had caused the sun to change color in an effort to provide energy for the people of Das Paradies, and had instigated the Cataclysm, bringing the world to more ruin. There were subtle hints that the ruler of Das Paradies had gone mad, and caused the sun to bring its fury upon those who wanted to manipulate its energies for their own gain, but how they had done it, I cannot answer. I hate all these unknowns.

Hamdo's ancestors, all apart of the dynasty in charge of Das Paradies, grew more tyrannical as the years went by, eventually forcing the citizenry into revolt two hundred years previously, but that had been quashed by the first ancestors of _Hellywood_. Despite needing to focus on keeping themselves physically well with careful rationing of water, the ancestors of Hamdo wasted it on powering battle stations that ran solely on water, a technology as damning as it was vital to keeping them safe from enemies.

Ten years before the day Sara and I came to find ourselves in _Hellywood_, the kingdom of Das Paradies was in ruins. Years of civil strife and lack of resources had driven the people into a panic and they tried once more to revolt, giving Hamdo, then only a prince, the opportunity to slay his father, and take control of _Hellywood_, the last remaining battle station of Das Paradies. He fled into the desert, trying to get away from the many enemies he'd created back home. Now he was alone, with no hope of support from his home country, leading me to think he was heading closer to insanity as the days went by.

Against her attempts to dissuade me, I asked Sara to look up information on Lala-Ru, in order to find out why she was so important to Hamdo's plans. I understood her reluctance to do so, but necessity made me ask her to search for the information.

Sara found several mentions of her name in the histories of countries that had once bordered Das Paradies or had been conquered by them. She was known as the Giver of Life, the Source of Truth, and the Aquatic Goddess, to name a few. The last nickname proved my hypothesis about her helping to supply Hamdo with something he desperately needed, but how Lala-Ru could offer Hamdo water in the middle of a desert was beyond me, which made me think of the pendant Hamdo wanted almost as much as he wanted her. The pendant was spoken of whenever Lala-Ru was mentioned in the histories, as it always provided the water the civilization needed at the time. I wondered if this pendant was just some metaphor for some other device she used to gather water, but a real answer eluded me. It had to be simple mythology, right? Easily explainable by science, right?

It was at that moment I realized a fallacy in the histories. Every time Lala-Ru was ever mentioned, it was always within several years of her last visit and these visits had been going on since before the seven hundred years provided by the histories. It was impossible for a living being our size to live that long; it had been proven by medical science in my own time and there was nothing in this time that suggested the average life expectancy had passed forty-two, so how could she have been in so many different places in different times, and yet not age a day? Surely these were just legends and the original Lala-Ru, if she ever existed in the first place, had died a long time ago, but the doubt in my mind remained. Hamdo claimed she had left him when he tried to force her to work for him, and Abelia seemed to believe it as well, so how was that possible?

Was she some kind of angel? A demon? Something in-between? Why did she have this ability to offer life to those who needed it the most? Why had she never been a part of any legends I'd heard about from our time? Maybe she had, and they were just different than the ones the other civilizations had experienced. The questions without answers gave me a migraine.

Sara, always helping me focus on the task at hand, told me I was supposed to be working, and I could worry about Lala-Ru later. I thanked her and continued to work on the newest problem Hamdo had with _Hellywood_.

At the time I was supposed to be focusing on lining up the pipes that held the water in _Hellywood_ with some material that would prevent leaks. Plumbing, like many other professions I never saw myself going into, had proved to be a necessary skill to learn as soon as possible, because Hamdo's moods changed as much as the temperature in the desert. One day he'd be so concerned about the poor health of his soldiers, and I'd recommend increasing the supplies of citrus-esque fruits, which would prevent scurvy, the primary source of Hamdo's woes. _Hellywood_ had limited supplies, but I managed to work out a system that took parts of the battle station that were not in use and renovate them to act as gardens, increasing the food supply. It was more Sara's idea, though.

Every time I succeeded in an endeavor he set before me, Hamdo praised me, and told me I was his miracle worker, a term I hated every single time it was mentioned. But this was far from enough for his tastes. Absolute perfection could only be achieved when he found and brought Lala-Ru to his side. Until then, we were subject to his ever-present whims, which grew pettier with each passing day.

And to make things worse, he always watched me work whenever he had nothing better to do with his time. He stared at me with that relentless mad look on his face that made me wish I'd never seen it before. When he was in a good mood, he forced the guard to leave us alone. (I had heard no news on Boo's status, and was worried that I'd killed him, though eventually Nabuca returned to guard duty and told me he was recovering.) However, when Hamdo was in a bad mood, he yelled at me and threatened to hurt Sara and me if I didn't hurry up and finish his requests.

That day was no different, except for one crucial part that almost destroyed the closeness Sara and I had with one another.

Following our minor scuffle over the history of Lala-Ru, I had returned to the task of properly lining the pipes, and had apologized for making Sara do something she really hadn't wanted to perform.

"I'm sorry, Sara," I said. "I shouldn't have made you do it, no matter how curious I was. It'll never happen again."

"It's okay, Matt," she said, looking over some new information on how previous civilizations had lined their pipes for me. "I know why you did it, but please don't make me do it again. I…don't want to know more about Lala-Ru."

I nodded. Her hatred of this girl Sara had never once met in her life was growing with each passing day. Hate is one of the strongest emotions a human being can feel in their lives. We naturally want to look out for ourselves and when someone else interferes with our well being, we don't take kindly to it, no matter the reasons why it was done in the first place. Letting go of hatred is also one of the hardest things we can even do in our short time on this earth. The saying goes "Easier said than done", and whoever came up with that was a genius, because they perfectly understood human nature. I hoped that Sara would never have to face Lala-Ru in person, because there was no telling what she would do to her, and this was before the worst part of our stay in _Hellywood _happened.

Right on schedule—around the time I assumed was the newest form of noon—Hamdo entered the workroom and forced the guard—Kazam this time around, who I liked, because he genuinely seemed to like us—to leave us alone with him. When Kazam left, Hamdo spoke, "How goes it my wonderful miracle worker?"

I gulped, knowing I didn't have an answer he wanted to hear. "King Hamdo, I'm afraid we haven't found anything yet. I know you suggested lead, sir, but there are too many problems we'd face if we were to do that. Thousands of years before I was born, there was this empire that ruled from a city called Rome. They had these things called aqueducts, which carried water all over their cities, but unfortunately most of them were lined with lead, and that made their citizens sick. It wasn't until many years later that we found more efficient metals to use."

"I see. Matthew, do you remember what I told you earlier?"

"That lead was the only available material nearby, sir?"

"Yes, that. Why is lead the only one we can find here?"

"Because the natural resources of the world are dwindling, sir, and the only way that lead is in so much abundance here is because _Hellywood_ has been routinely attacked by other nation's war machines, which are made of lead."

"Indeed, so is there any other way you can find that would prevent us from using this hazardous material."

I sunk my head. "No, King Hamdo."

Before I could react, Hamdo advanced on me and seized me by the shoulders, pinning me against my work desk. My back told me to cry out in pain at the suffering it had incurred, but I couldn't let that ruin Hamdo's mood, so I stifled it. Staring at me with those pupil-less eyes of his, he breathed in and out. It was so odd, staring into the eyes of a man whose whole eye consisted of a monochrome feature. I'd noticed it in the eyes of every other person I saw in _Hellywood_, save for two people: Sara and Abelia. It was such an odd difference, and it made me wonder if maybe even the loyal Abelia was being held here against her will…and away from her own time.

Hamdo, however, crushed my concerns with his rants, "What the hell do you think you're doing down here, boy? I don't give you these things for you to give me the answers I already have! You are my miracle worker and you shall do what you have promised me!"

He threw me against the desk again, cracking a bone in my back, as I heard Sara whimper on the other side of the table, bringing her to Hamdo's attention.

Crossing his hands behind his back, Hamdo glared at her. "Ha! So this is the real reason for your poor performance here, boy! I'll have her sent away immediately!"

"No, King Hamdo!" I cried out, standing up defiantly. "Sara's the whole reason why I was able to figure out how to stock up your supplies! She read through the histories of Das Paradies and found a story of how one of the prototypes for this battle station got lost in the desert without power and had to find a way to preserve itself until help could arrive! They did the same things I suggested you do, but I never would have found out if it weren't for her, so please don't hurt her!"

There was another one of those godforsaken pauses. The ones that hedge on one party being rational enough to think things through.

Rational people are a rarity these days.

"From Das Paradies, you say?" Hamdo repeated in a tone that suggested I'd made another blunder I couldn't have foreseen. He grabbed a stack of bound papers from a nearby desk and flung it at me, barely missing me. "I hate Das Paradies! The operation to restock our supplies is finished! Don't you ever bring it up again! Am I understood?"

I tensed up at my work desk, feeling my heart act in kind. I looked in a mirror and saw my hair and its new white tint and I wanted to get rid of it, but my heart took priority.

_No, dang it, not now_, I thought. _Please hold on just a little longer. _

"Yes, King Hamdo," I said, trying to calm down and avoid looking at the mirror once more. The last thing I needed was to dwell on my change in appearance.

"Good, then now comes the time where you must make up for your actions today, boy," he said, turning around. "You see, I seem to be running out of soldiers, and it so very hard to find new villages to repopulate my units. Can you think of a way to rectify this situation, Matthew?"

He turned back around, his eyes drifting to Sara.

I could understand what he was talking about, and I didn't like it one bit. I'd had it with him threatening to take away Sara's most precious gift to the world. It wasn't exactly the highest point in my life, but I'd been preparing for this day ever since he'd first threatened her. I knew what I had to say, and how I had to bluff my way into making him agree with me, even if I couldn't let Sara in on my plan just yet. I'd hoped I'd never have to reveal it to her. It was a wretched plan; one born from the fires of weakness and constant worry. It was a practical plan…and it was also wrong.

"I'll do it," I said.

"You?" Hamdo said, amused. "Haven't you already?"

I attempted a half-glare at him, faking some parts of my anger, but not gathering enough to make him scared, which would only ruin the plan.

"That is between her and me," I said. "As is this."

"But why should I give her to you?" Hamdo asked. "I need soldiers, not children with heart deficiencies."

Sara slowly began to grasp what we were both talking about, hurting me when she gasped. I've never felt so despicable in my life.

"My heart deficiency was not given to me through birth, King Hamdo," I revealed against my better wishes. "I gained it through my own failing later in life. Any soldier you receive would be perfectly healthy. Lamarck was wrong you know. Genes cannot be passed through because of experiences in life. Every last one of them will be willing and able to fight the moment they come out of the womb.

"Why should I be the one to do this? Because I know Sara, and I know parts of her life better left not spoken. One of these is when the proper time for creation will be. Your soldiers would do it randomly and recklessly, but I can provide results immediately, sir." I prayed for the bluff to work; I had no such information. I had no reason to.

By this time, Sara had stepped away from her side of the room and reached me. She saw the serious look on my face and slapped me. "How dare you?" she cried out. "What gives either of you the right to make me do this?"

I stared her down, hoping my acting could at least send some message that I really wasn't being serious, making her take an involuntary step backward.

"If you want to live, then you must serve King Hamdo," I said, as I imagined strangling myself to death. "This is how you must do it."

Careful not to let Hamdo notice, I snuck a wink at her with my left eye, which was obscured by the position of my face. Sara never showed that it had happened, but I could tell she believed me, at least a little bit. Real tears, however, left her eyes and made me curse our situation more than I ever had before.

"If it helps King Hamdo, then I'll do it," Sara said in-between tears.

"Good, now get to work!" Hamdo thundered as he barked at a new guard to take us back to our cell. "I expect results immediately! Your cell will be monitored!"

He left the room, a mixture of happiness and disappointment on his face, leaving the guard—someone I didn't recognize—to take us back to our cell.

Not once did I look at Sara in our walk back. I was afraid that if I did, I'd break down and reveal every part of my plan before the time was ripe. She didn't look at me either, and I occasionally heard her sniffle and wipe her nose whenever rogue strands of mucus left it.

When we reached the cell, the guard pushed us inside, making me see her for the first time since our stint in the workroom. She looked awful. Her face was all red and wounded looking, and her eyes were nothing but a lake of tears.

How would you feel if you were being forced into a relationship with another person of the opposite sex, even if you knew and loved each other? It was degrading, unnecessary, and worthless. All she had to go by that I wasn't being serious about the offer Hamdo presented was one wink, and how was she supposed to believe that wasn't just another ploy on my part? What if I was only acting like I had a plan?

"Hey, guys!" the guard called out to his fellows. "Prisoners about to get it on!"

The sudden shock of his continued presence made me tense up and I picked Sara off of the ground and placed her behind one of the support beams in the cell. Looking her right in the eye, I whispered, "Sara, you're going to have to trust me here if you want to make it out of this alive. I have a plan, but you're not going to like it. I don't like it. It's sick; I'm ashamed it ever appeared to me one day, but it's all we've got."

"Hurry it up in there!" another guard called out, trying to see where we were.

"Matt, we aren't actually…" Sara whispered, but left the rest nonverbal.

"Yes and no, sweetheart," I whispered. "I've known this was a possibility for a very long time, and I didn't want to make you scared, so I never brought up the plan I had to make this look good, and on the off chance we were never forced to do this."

"Matt, what did you do?"

"I looked through the population lists and found a girl about your age, with similar build, who was being assigned to a soldier here in _Hellywood_ that has a similar build to mine. You don't know how hard that was to find. One day I snuck out of the workroom and stood outside the soldier's door while they were…well, you know, and I used this."

I produced a recorder, one I'd asked for because I needed it to "record my ideas to help King Hamdo" and showed it to her.

"On here is the recording of them in the act," I continued, hoping I wasn't making myself out as some godforsaken pervert. "It starts off real slow, and gets a little faster later on. I'm going to whisper instructions to you to act out everything as the girl in the recording those, to make it sound authentic. And we'll have to…undress, since we're being watched, to keep the act up, because it'll look like we're actually following through with this, but we won't actually do it, I promise. This is not how we end up doing it, that I promise you."

I tensed up. This was a critical moment. If she refused now, we were doomed, but if she agreed to it, we would lose a part of our relationship I desperately wanted to wait for, to make it more special. We weren't actually engaging in the act, but it sure as hell felt like it. The sounds on the recorder wouldn't be helping either.

Life or Death?

Damnation or Damnation?

Sara nodded, straightening herself up. "Okay, Matt. I trust you. I'm not…proud this is what you've done, but it had to be done. I love you."

I nodded. "I know."

I drew close to her and kissed her fiercely, as I slipped a hand around to the recorder and turned it on, whispering instructions to Sara all the while.

The guards cheered us on, and I moved Sara into the darker corners of the cell, trying to obscure the view, yet keep up the façade. If one of them opened the door, my scam was over, and I didn't want to dwell on what would happen after that.

Depending on my mood, the lack of guards checking in on us was good or bad.

As I slowly pulled Sara's shirt off, I cursed God for forcing us into this situation, not knowing the severity of my actions.

Actions like this scar even the brightest of relationships, and ours would be no exception to the rule.

Hate is one of the strongest emotions; I feel it strongest of all. Mostly at myself.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Well, this should be the last chapter I can write before I have to leave and adjust to college once more tomorrow. I don't know when I can write again, but it should be fairly soon. Let me know if there's anything that needs to be brought to my attention.

Chapter 10

Sara and I didn't talk to each other that week. We were both guilty of the ever-present silence between us.

She was ashamed of what we had done and was wondering if I had any other backup plans. Plans that could only be made if our ruse was found out and we were forced to rid the deception in front of others.

I was ashamed of myself for coming up with something as sick as this. The fact that Sara was right and I did have more contingency plans bothered me even more. What choice did I have? If I hadn't come up with this plan, then Sara would have been taken away to someone who never would have treated her the same way I would. It was an awful thought, one you never want to have with the woman you love more than life itself, but that's what you get when you're thrown into the same situation we were in. It was also born of selfishness, because I wanted to be the one Sara shared herself with, not some random, faceless soldier who'd only see her as useful for one part of his life. I saw Sara as more than that, but it was not to be during that time. You lose something special with the one you love when the circumstances force what should have been a precious moment that bonds you for life into a nasty, disgusting memory of faking everything God intended it to be.

I wanted to talk to her, have some time alone with her to tell her how sorry I was that I was degrading us this way, but we were never alone. There was always at the very least one guard outside our door, making sure we were "doing" what we were supposed to be. For a week we continued the act, getting better at it every time, which would only worsen our silence.

Emotions are fickle things. Sometimes they're your greatest allies, and they help make sure you're never down, but other times they buildup like barrels of dynamite that could go off at any moment. The pent-up rage I carried in my heart for _Hellywood_, for Hamdo, for Abelia, and for Lala-Ru gathered inside me, waiting for the day where an outlet would allow them free reign of my emotions.

Sara and I had always been close with each other. There was nothing we couldn't talk about; everything was an option with her nearby. We shared everything with each other: Our hopes, our dreams, our plans with each other once I found what I was meant to do in this life. Never had I felt so disconnected from her.

It was everyone's fault. Hamdo's, Abelia's, Boo's, Nabuca's, Schmerz's, and Sara's…and mine. No one was free from the blame. We were all equal carriers, but only Sara and I had to actually deal with the guilt.

I'm not an emotional person by nature. I'm so easy-going it's not even funny. It takes a lot for me to get mad, to get sad, to hate someone else…to hate myself. I'm not used to all the turmoil I was experiencing.

It's just another one of those practical things people who lived lives of luxury like me don't learn soon enough. I never had any real problems growing up. I was kept safe and I was always in a financially secure situation. My father was a war hero, my mother a former nurse, so all of my ailments and problems were easily solvable, all within the comforts of home.

_Hellywood_ was not home. Yeah, I know, major news flash there, Matt, but it's one of those things I had to learn real quickly: Home was years away, and I was stuck in an unfamiliar environment where everything I'd worked for in my past life was all but worthless.

I questioned my faith; who wouldn't? I knew life wasn't some happy go lucky fun-filled carnival ride, but it sure as hell wasn't supposed to be this ruthless, right? I was supposed to be free from these problems; I'd given my soul for that promise.

It's amazing how someone so smart, so spiritual, can be so utterly wrong about how life works.

I had a lot to learn in the coming days.

* * *

I broke the silence first. It was my responsibility to apologize, to try and make things better between us. I couldn't stand not talking with her. I needed to hear her voice, needed to hear her tell me she could forgive me, even though what I'd done had saved us from facing the alternative. We were in the cell, late one night, following another fake liaison, but, instead of using the same recording, I'd tracked down the same couple and done it again to make things sound more authentic. It was after we'd finished that I spoke to her.

"Sara, I'm sorry," I said, simply, but Sara picked up the other messages that I so desperately wanted to tell her.

She looked at me intently. It was the first day since we'd started our little façade that her face wasn't covered with tears. "I know, Matt."

"I want to make things better between us, but I don't know how. I've screwed up. If I had just thought everything through and kept him happy, then he never would have made us do this."

Sara shook her head. "You know as much as I do that he's not, uh, in the right mind. He'd have done it sometime, and if you hadn't been so…creative, then we'd have gone through something much worse. I'm not happy about what we had to do, but I do appreciate how you've tried to make sure we don't have to go all the way just yet. I don't get this place anymore than you do, Matt, but we're lucky this is all we've had to do to stay alive."

I nodded. Leave it to Sara to make me feel good about something as despicable as what I'd done.

"Thanks, Sara," I said, smiling for the first time in a week. "Are we…okay?"

She stood up and knelt down right behind me, wrapping her arms around me and laying her head on my left shoulder. "As okay as we can be, Matt, and that's all I need right now. I know you'd never let anything happen to me if you can stop it."

I looked at her, knowing this was the first real moment of tenderness we'd had ever since the first night of our deception.

…_if you can stop it…if you can stop it…_

The words repeated in my head, but I ignored them, favoring a kiss with Sara that eased my mood, but hardly to the point of where it needed to be.

It was only a temporary salve.

* * *

Another change to my life was the appearance of Abelia instead of Hamdo in my workroom. She was her usual stoic self, and the only explanation she gave as to why she was there instead of him was because Hamdo was, and I quote, "Busy elsewhere."

Oh, yeah, honey, I'm sure he's got such a demanding schedule being stranded in the middle of a desert, yet still having all the comforts of home. No, the real reason was because he was pissed off at me, and would probably kill me if I said one more thing to tick him off. For once Abelia was doing me a favor, so I decided to return it.

I'd been wondering about her different eye structure compared to everyone else in _Hellywood_. No pupils for everyone it seemed, as if they no longer needed them in this new environment, which baffled me. I knew the sun was out more often, and it was far brighter, and that pupils were designed to contract once massive amounts of light entered the eye, but they didn't have pupils at all. How did they see in the dark? The pupil's designed to take in as much light as possible in the dark, so maybe they had evolved, or maybe even devolved to lose it for some unspecified reason. Perhaps it was some random mutation that had caught on in the gene pool, and maybe Abelia was considered a genetic freak, but that answer was too simple for me. Something told me she belonged here as much as Sara and I did, so I covertly checked the records of _Hellywood_ to see if I could find an answer to this conundrum.

Of course, this couldn't be the only thing I was doing at the time, otherwise it would have cast suspicion on me, so I multitasked and worked on making small design changes to the machines that had attacked Sara and I weeks before, only now I knew they were called prowlers. The prowlers were basically a poor man's version of those giant robots Japan seemed so fond of making. They served a dual purpose of construction and combat, and were actually quite effective in both. It seemed that guns were not quite as commonplace as I'd guessed before, so the drivers rarely worried about getting shot, letting them attack without fear.

The records of _Hellywood_ were password-encrypted, but it was child's play figuring out how to bypass that. Back home in San Diego, I was a master of the World Wide Web, and had learned certain, uh, skills to get information I wanted. Nothing awful, like say taking someone else's credit card information or anything illegal like that, but more like minor hacking into some of the local restaurants to bump reservations around to give Sara and I the best available seats. Petty, I know, but hey, I aim to impress my girlfriend, not that I ever told her just how I'd managed to get the best seats in a high-class restaurant.

The point being that _Hellywood's _encryption was as flimsy as plasticine to a semi-expert like myself. I gained access to personal records, switching my focus back to the prowler modifications every now and then to throw off suspicion from Abelia. I located her file and read it through, trying to find out if she really was from Das Paradies or from somewhere more near my time.

Which, before I continue, made me think about another logical fallacy I'd just then noticed. If Hamdo had the power to go back into time, then why didn't he just take water from back then and use it to help power _Hellywood_? Was it too much of a waste and unaffordable? Were they worried about changing the past too much? Why hadn't they used these time tunnels to prevent at least one of the Great Cataclysms?

I shook my head and focused first on the schematics for the prowlers, and then to the biographical information on Abelia.

Born: ? From: Portal. Age: Thirty-one.

_What does this even mean? _I asked myself. _None of that even makes sense, well, the age does, but everything else doesn't. Born in a question mark? From a Portal? Huh?_

I continued to scan the document, not even bothering to change views with the prowler schematics as planned.

I read a piece from a self-proclaimed "Portal Master" that he had found a young girl with purple hair—a genome he'd never seen before—in the days of the ancients, and that the Genetics Project deemed her worthy of the water wasted on teleporting to the past. Curious, I clicked on the link to the Genetics Project—a more feebly named project I have never heard in my life—to figure out what it was all about. I read the background information of the Hamdo dynasty, with Hamdo apparently being the name given to all the sons born in the family. The scientists in Das Paradies were growing worried about the failure of the Hamdos to find genetically pure mates to spread their greatness to the next generation. It seemed like they were all descending into inbreeding, which the many scientists involved blamed the growing madness and insanity all Hamdos were beginning to experience on. To correct this problem, four of them had come up with the Genetics Project, which would go into the past, find a female of proper genetics, and bring her back, claiming she was a captured princess of a far off kingdom in their own time, and allowing the Hamdos to continue their lineage without worrying about falling apart.

The Portal Master took the purple-haired girl—judged to be eight years old at the time—and brought her back with them to groom her for the then prince Hamdo. He showed no interest in her at first, but there were signs that he would some day take the bait. However, that had all changed once Hamdo had killed his father and took Abelia with him. There were no more entries after that.

_So Abelia was taken in the past to be Hamdo's wife? _I thought. _No freaking way. _

"We called them the Sky Gods," Abelia said from behind me, making me jump in the air.

I started to beg for her forgiveness for my actions, but she shook her head. "Was it my eyes that gave me away?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, they didn't fit in with everyone else here, so I got curious."

"Curiosity is not a sin, Matthew, and I understand why you didn't ask me about this problem. Yes, I am not from this time, but from a time even before yours."

"How far back are we talking?"

"My people lived in the wilderness, barely able to use rocks and wood to help support ourselves. I believe your people referred to it as a 'stone age', which would be how I'd describe it myself."

My eyes widened; I hadn't expected this. Neither had I expected the reaction that Abelia had once she'd found out my plans. This woman was full of surprises.

"The Sky Gods came once every change of the moon to offer us gifts," Abelia said. "Then one day they said they had to go back to their world, but that they must take one of us or we would be punished severely. They chose me and brought me to the land of Das Paradies. The transition was hard, but I eventually adjusted…with some help."

She unconsciously tilted her head to the right, allowing me to see for the first time the scars of an operation clearly done to implant a translation device inside her.

"Don't you want to go back home?" I asked, feeling a strange pity I'd never once imagined I'd have for her.

Abelia shook her head. "What would be the point? My people were savages, and they would have nothing to do with me now on a personal level. So far as they see things, I am one of the Sky Gods, and I would never make them worship me the same way we worshipped those fool scientists. No, Matthew, some of us never will get to see our old homes again, because we serve a higher purpose now. We serve King Hamdo."

It was a very subtle hint to quit worrying about going back home. It was a genuine attempt to prevent me from making a mistake. I wasn't ever going to get used to this soft-spoken side of Abelia. It was just so unlike her.

I nodded and continued working, thinking up a new idea she'd unintentionally just given me. Maybe I couldn't get back home and maybe I wasn't meant to, but that didn't mean I had to like it. I had the skills; I could do it almost effortlessly. I could try and cripple Hamdo to the point where he could no longer have a hold over Sara's future or my own. Maybe I could get back at the guy who'd forced me away from my home, and maybe I could bring Abelia to my side.

All it took was time, but time wasn't a luxury I had.

I wasn't the only schemer in the metallic halls of _Hellywood_.

* * *

"She could do what with us?" Sara asked when I proposed a question to her about Abelia.

"Keep your voice down, sweetheart," I said, trying to avoid suspicion. "I said that she's as much a captive here as we are. If I can get her on our side, we could gain almost limitless access to _Hellywood_, get rid of Hamdo, and find a way back home."

"This is one hell of a bad plan, hotshot," Sara whispered, using the nickname she tended to bring out whenever I had one of my more hair-brained ideas. "There are so many things that can go wrong. She's loyal to Hamdo, so what makes you think she'd ever do anything you asked her to do?"

"I'm telling you she doesn't want to be here anymore than we do, sweetheart. If we manage to sway her our way, we can get out of here."

"That's a big if, Matt. What if she sells you out?"

"Then I'll have to be careful about how I say it."

"This is stupid, Matt. You could get us both hurt if you screw up."

"Don't you think I know that?" I asked, trying not to raise my voice. "I'm telling you it can be done. Maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow, but she will help us. In the meantime I've got to play the part of his 'miracle worker' and keep building more of those death machines."

She shook her head. "Listen, I know you think this isn't the greatest idea you've ever had, but please, be careful."

"Hey…it's me," I said, offering my best Han Solo smirk.

"That's what I'm afraid of."

Sara had agreed to the plan, albeit begrudgingly, which was better than nothing. Now I just had to make sure nothing ruined the plan or us.

However, it took a pint-sized kid out of his element to ruin the both of us in ways he never intended to do.

And his name was Shu.

A/N: Well, it's finally time to introduce Sara and Matt to the actual story of _Now and Then, Here and There_. I will attempt to get every piece of dialogue used in the show word for word in this fic, should I choose a scene that happens there. However, this will inevitably be changed due to various reasons, one of them being an OC, and another being the differences with the Japanese subs and the English dub, which I can only access on the SyFy Channel, which is about to finish broadcasting this version in the coming weeks. Until next time, thanks again for everything.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Finally had some time to work on this chapter. The dialogue was supposed to reflect the English dub, but I had to settle for the Japanese subs, since I do not own the DVD for the series yet. They should be just as effective and word-for-word what is said in the series. A warning once again about the material inside. There's a reason this is rated T, but I will attempt to never dwell into M territory, in order to keep the spirit of the show alive. Please let me know if there are any mistakes I have made. Thanks again.

Part IV: Infected Souls

Chapter 11

Unbeknownst to me, Hamdo's search for Lala-Ru was in full swing and he was growing more impatient as the days went by. Impatience and maniacal dictators do not mix, which I learned soon enough, but let me put everything into perspective first.

It all started when Abelia's voice came over the loudspeakers exactly a month after Sara and I were taken away from San Diego. "Attention, all citizens on board. Lala-Ru has escaped with an intruder. Search your designated blocks immediately. It is imperative that Lala-Ru be captured alive. Noncompliance will result in capital punishment. As for her accomplice, take him dead or alive. Recover Lala-Ru at once! You've got to bring her back!"

I was working at my usual spot with Kazam guarding me. I stared into space, trying to figure out what was going on.

Lala-Ru was dumb enough to be inside _Hellywood_? I didn't know much about her personally, but she didn't seem to be stupid enough to pull off a stunt like that. So that left her coming here as a result of Abelia's searches into the past. That would explain the intruder who was helping her out. Was he or she just another unwitting person dragged into this situation like Sara and I? Maybe the person had tried to save Lala-Ru and ended up getting caught, only to break her out moments later. Surely this time it was the real Lala-Ru, and not a fake. Abelia would not make the same mistake twice. She was a smart woman, and knew better than to get on Hamdo's bad side once again.

I sighed. Someone else was about to suffer because of Hamdo's machinations and once again there was nothing I could do about it, so I went back to work.

"Could it really be her?" Kazam asked me, making me shrug.

"Don't know, don't care," I said. "That's her problem. But if it is, maybe Sara can go home."

It was a false hope. The possibility was there, but Hamdo would never really let such a valuable resource go. Sara was there to stay, and so was I.

We didn't talk again. I had way too much on my plate to start up a conversation with anyone, even Kazam, who, I'd learned, had been kidnapped from his village to serve in Hamdo's army several years before. Hamdo was getting more demanding as the days went by. Normally I had maybe one project to work on at a time, but now the madman was making me work on seven different things at once. Efficient water transport, a means to grab excess hydrogen from the air to bond with oxygen to get water—solved with a primitive fuel cell I developed—and various other problems _Hellywood _had that I was the only one smart enough to solve, apparently. It was as if reason and science were only toys to be used to kill people these days. Yeah, I was tremendously naïve back then. Where was this time's Einstein? Newton? Heck, I'd take Richard Dawkins if it meant he was smart enough to speak reason to these fanatics.

(Okay, that was low, but funny; so don't let Sara tell you otherwise, kid.)

Alas, no such scientist existed, and I was the sloppy seconds from another time who was the only one able to do anything. Of course they still had some rudimentary knowledge of how _Hellywood_ worked, but it was nothing near what it needed to be.

Hours passed by with little incident, at least until Kazam's walkie-talkie crackled to life, and I heard Hamdo's voice say, "Is he there?"

"He is here with me, King Hamdo," Kazam answered.

"Tell him I need him to stay the night there. No sleep. He is to work nonstop until I say otherwise."

Kazam paused, looking at me with pity in his eyes.

"Did my words not get through?" Hamdo asked, breaking Kazam out of his stupor and making him straighten up, even though Hamdo wasn't in the room.

"I am sorry, King Hamdo," Kazam apologized. "My connector is not functioning correctly, but they did come through, sir. I will tell him what you have said. King Hamdo, did you find Lala-Ru, sir?"

"Why, yes I did…but not the pendant. Tell him to work."

"Affirmative, sir."

The walkie-talkie died down. Kazam looked at me, shaking his head in shame. "I shall tell Sara of your predicament, Matt."

I nodded. He knew as well as I did I had no hope of escaping anytime without Sara at my side, so if he left me alone I'd stay. Kazam left the workroom and me alone, letting me dwell on my many projects.

It was a long night.

* * *

The thug who replaced Kazam as my guard was the same one who'd been foolish enough to lie to Hamdo when he'd brought me before him the first time. His name was Pashahanta, which he claimed meant "divine warrior" in his native tongue, but I knew the origins behind the name, due to the baby name books my mother always had around the house, just in case another King was going to enter the world. Pashahanta means "the bond-destroyer" in its native Sanskrit. An apt name if there ever was one.

Needless to say, he was not my best friend, so when it came time for me to go back to my cell the next day, he flung me inside against one of the support beams, almost knocking me out as he laughed at me.

Normally I could depend on Sara to already be at my side, ready to tend to my wounds, but this time she didn't show up and I panicked, lifting myself up to frantically search the cell for her presence. I found her hunkered down in a corner, staring intently at something behind me, with a look of worry on her face. Worried myself, I turned around to figure out what it was, finding a small Asian boy around maybe twelve or thirteen whose face was covered by Sara's rabbit handkerchief. He looked kinda scrawny, and was only wearing blue clothing, save for a white shirt. I knew instantly that this kid was the intruder from earlier, and saw the bruises all over his body he'd undoubtedly gained from one of Hamdo or Abelia's interrogations.

Before I could ask the question of who he was, the kid suddenly shot up, trying to see, but the handkerchief prevented him from doing so.

"What the…" he said, trailing off.

He reached around for the handkerchief and gently lifted it up to see, finding Sara in the corner and missing me by a couple inches.

"Lala-Ru!" he exclaimed, crawling after her.

Sara cringed in the corner, looking back from him to me, begging me to stop the kid before he tried anything. I made my over there, but by the time I did he was already staring at Sara and noticing something about her that made him rethink about who he was talking to.

"You're not her," he said.

By that time I'd positioned myself in front of Sara and held her behind my back, as I looked at the kid. He hardly seemed to care someone else was in the room, and sent me a disarming smile, which, surprisingly, worked quite well. The kid just seemed to send out a positive signal to me, so I let my guard down. It was at that moment that I figured out he was speaking Japanese, which my translator was working really hard to overcome. Japanese has always been a difficult language for us _gaijin _to learn, myself included, but I knew enough to help the translator along.

The kid sat Indian style and continued staring at us intently, before he said, "Hey…Do you know where Lala-Ru is by any chance?"

Sara stiffened up behind me, as my jaw dropped. Was this kid for real?

His hopeful face scrunched up and he backed off for a moment, saying, "I guess not. Too bad." His face sunk, but instantly perked up. "I'm starving. Isn't there anything to eat in here?"

I started to crawl around again, found the pan where Sara's food normally was and sunk down again. "Damn it. I know I should have had those croquettes. They're no treat, but…"

Sara broke our respective silence first, saying to the kid, "What? Did you just say 'croquette?'"

He turned around with a questioning look on his face. "Yeah?"

I tried to speak up, but Sara crawled past me faster than I could say anything and grabbed the kid by his shoulders. "Are you from Earth?"

"By definition," the kid said, making me laugh.

Sara would have none of it. "America! You understand? America? Do you know it?"

"Well, yeah, I know America. I suck at civics, but I know that much." He stopped talking when Sara started to cry. "Hey…"

That was my cue to enter the conversation, gently grabbing Sara and bringing her into my arms. She continued to cry, while I tried to soothe her. Remarkably, I was taking this very well compared to her. My suspicions had to have been correct. Abelia had miscalculated and gone to San Diego instead of Japan, or wherever Lala-Ru really was.

"I'm…I'm sorry," he said.

I shook my head. "It's not your fault, kid. We've been through a lot. It's been a while since we've seen someone from our own time."

"Huh? We're in the future?"

I nodded and looked down at Sara, who was finishing her weeping. Knowing she was over it now, I gradually let go of her and let Sara sit on her own.

"Do you want to tell him or should I?" I asked her.

"I'll go," Sara said, collecting herself. She looked at the kid. "It was an ordinary day. Matt and me were walking down the street so I could go pick up my dad as usual. Then I heard a noise behind us. I turned and saw machines that looked like snakes."

"I've seen those, too," the kid said.

"I got scared and started to run away, when a woman appeared. She seemed so cold."

"That's Abelia."

"Yep, that's her," I said, frowning.

"She said 'I found you, Lala-Ru. You're going back with me,'" Sara said.

It wasn't exactly what Abelia had said, but it was close enough to the truth.

"They grabbed me and it all went black for a moment," Sara continued. "Next thing I know, I'd been brought to this world. What's going on? He can't explain it to me, so you do it for me!"

I winced. I was the "he" she was referring to. She knew why she was still here, but Sara still wanted to hold hope they would let her go, which explains the next part of her questioning.

"Explain it? Well…" the kid said. "I guess they abducted you thinking you were Lala-Ru."

"Then when can we go home? Now that they caught the real one, can't they let me go? I have nothing to do with this anyway! Tell me why. Why do I have to be here? Tell me. Answer me…I want to go home."

I sighed as Sara sunk down in anguish at her situation. I didn't like the way Sara was questioning the poor kid—who I still didn't even know the name of yet—especially when she already knew why she was still there. There was no reason to make him the subject of her anger. People get irrational in stressful situations. I'm not blameless.

"Sara, you know why you're still here as well as I do," I said. "Quit making the kid uncomfortable."

"But there's still no reason! Can't he just let us go?"

"It'll be all right!" the kid proclaimed, surprising the both of us with his tenacity. "You will go home. Don't worry. It'll work out."

"How? What makes you say that?" Sara asked.

I had to admit I had the same question. This kid presumed too much, but his optimism was very much appreciated by me, as my cynicism had been growing larger than I was comfortable with.

"Well, I can't explain it," he said. "But it's all right. I know."

"That makes no sense!" Sara proclaimed.

"I don't get it either! I don't know how, but I know it's going to work out. True, since we came to this strange world, it's all been hell, but we've managed to survive all that. As long as we're alive, good things will come. And we'll be okay. That's what I'm trying to tell you."

I laughed. I couldn't help it. This kid was a breath of fresh air.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"Nothing, man," I said. "It's just I like your attitude. I wish I had your confidence in success."

"Are you sure we'll be fine?" Sara asked.

"Yeah!" he proclaimed.

"We'll go home?"

"Yup!"

"Cross your heart?"

"Leave it to me…er…" he trailed off.

Sara giggled. The sound was one I hadn't heard in weeks, and I liked it. I liked this kid. He was so positive; it was infectious. "We haven't even introduced ourselves. I'm Sara, Sara Ringwalt."

"And I'm Matthew King," I said, smiling. "Call me Matt, though, it makes me happy."

"Sara…Matt…I'm Shu," he said. "My full name is Shūzo Matsutani, but you can call me Shu for short." He looked down at Sara's handkerchief. "Oh, hey…this is yours. Thanks."

He offered it back to Sara and she accepted it. It was a sweet moment; we all just smiled at one another.

Sweet moments don't exist for long in _Hellywood_. They're not supposed to exist at all in its sealing walls.

A sudden crashing sound echoed in the room, increasing my adrenaline levels. Sara and Shu both gasped in shock, while I instinctively came in front of Sara, ready to protect her—and now Shu as well—from harm, but I found Shu also in front of Sara, doing the exact same thing as me, increasing my gratefulness for our newest friend.

A guard I didn't recognize came in and looked at Shu, saying, "Out! Round two is on!"

He waved his gun in the air to prevent either of us from stopping him and he grabbed Shu, dragging him away.

Shu spoke to us as he left, burning the words into my memory. "It's gonna work out!"

Sara and I rushed to the front of the cell as it was closed, to get a better look at Shu, as he continued his speech. "We'll be all right! It'll work out, Sara!"

The guard continued to drag him away, leaving Sara and me alone. I grabbed her shoulder and tried to say something encouraging, but the moment Shu left the room, my newfound optimism died.

Moments later, another guard came for me, and forced me back in the workroom, once again leaving Sara by herself.

It was the last time I saw her before I found out the horrors Hamdo had planned for her.

* * *

Kazam was there to guard me once again, and I found Hamdo had no set of real plans for me to go through that day, leaving me unclear as to what I should do. All Kazam could tell me was that Hamdo himself was coming to inspect me.

So I waited, wondering why he was doing this, while simultaneously worrying about Sara and Shu. Humankind was never meant to have so much on their minds. We were meant for greater things, and we screwed up, so now we have to deal with the consequences. I, unfortunately, was a large recipient of this cruelty brought on by my forefathers.

Hamdo showed up an hour later, a scowl on his face, which surprised me. I'd figured he'd be happy that he'd at least caught Lala-Ru, even if the pendant wasn't with him. I guessed I'd never be able to figure him out.

"You have met the boy?" he asked, staring me down.

"Yes, sir, I have," I said.

"He was like you, you know. He was protecting someone who we wanted, but this time it was the real deal."

"Congratulations on your success at capturing her, King Hamdo."

"Yes, I suppose congratulations are in order," Hamdo said. "However, we failed to locate the pendant."

"You'll find it very soon, sir," I said. "You always get what you want."

"Yes, yes I do, don't I?" I didn't like the tone of his voice.

I nodded unknowingly.

"Sara is being reassigned."

"To the kitchens?"

"No, to entertainment services."

The color left my face, matching my white-tinted hair. "But…But why? We've done exactly as you told as to."

"Have you, Matthew? I wonder sometimes. I do wonder."

"We are loyal to you, King Hamdo."

"I see, but my decision stands."

Whatever was left of my normal pigmentation disintegrated. "No, please don't take her there! Make me do it instead! Make me suffer instead!"

I pleaded with my eyes, begging Hamdo to see reason. Ha! Him see reason?

"Matthew, would you say you are a man?" Hamdo asked, seemingly uninterested in my pleas.

"Yeah, I would," I answered, angered at the stupid question.

"Can you give birth?"

"No, but—"

"Then why the hell do you presume to feel worthy of the right to bear soldiers for my holy war! You are useless to me in that regard! I know of the lies you and that harlot have perpetrated against me! Did you honestly think I wouldn't find out about your little façade? Did you think me a fool?"

I opened my mouth to say, "Damn straight I do," but providence prevented me from killing myself prematurely, so I shut it.

He presented my recorder, the one I'd used to fake my promise. He'd found out about my trick! I hadn't even noticed it was missing!

"I see that you thought you could fool me," Hamdo said, shaking his head. "That was a _very _bad thing you did there, Matthew. _Very_ bad."

"You have to understand, sir," I pleaded, knowing it would do no good. "In my culture we have to select our partners through a ritual called the proposal. If I had done anything to her without first performing this, then our exploits would have been cursed by the Trinity!"

Half-truths are still lies, even when they're spoken to defend the love of your life from being the sexual slave of countless heartless soldiers.

"Then you should have told me!" Hamdo said, as he grabbed my arms. "You should have performed this ritual and consummated it immediately in my name! I am God in this world! Your Trinity bows down to me! You should have forced her to do anything I told you to do! She's only a woman!"

That did it for me. I had had it with him. Sara was not just a woman to me. She was my best friend, my girlfriend, my person to go to when things were down in my life, and my whole reason for existing in the first place. There was no way in hell that this pompous two-bit despot was ever going to ruin her character by degrading her in front of me. I bit Hamdo's left arm, making him whine like a child. Using the momentum I'd gained from the attack, I flung him into the walls, where he stared at me in disbelief. I cackled with reckless abandon. I felt empowered by my assault. I could do no wrong.

"You can't do this!" I roared, clenching my fists. "You're never going to hurt Sara ever again! I'm going to kill you, you son of a bitch!"

I leaped over the chair that separated us and sent a strike right into Hamdo's face. I punched him in his gut, causing him to gasp for air as I landed another blow beneath his chin.

"You! Can't! Have! Her!" I yelled, punctuating each word with a punch.

I almost sent another strike, but I felt something stick me in the back of the neck, and a buzzing sensation entered my body, followed by an undeterminable amount of pain running all over me. I fell down to the ground, the point of impact bleeding profusely as I saw what had taken me down: Kazam holding one of the mass-produced tasers.

I had made those. I had developed those for Hamdo's utilization and this was the thanks I got: Getting shot in the back by my own creation. I despise irony.

Oh, but that wasn't the best part, of no, sir. You see, tasers are designed in a way that's meant to incapacitate the person hit by one, or, in other words, knocking then out cold, which is exactly the way I designed it. It seemed, though, that someone had gone behind my back to make "improvements" to them, which seemed to entitle keeping the person getting shocked coherent and in constant pain.

And it gets even better, kid.

Hamdo didn't take the idea of being hit very well. In fact, you could say it made him just a little bit mad. Well, madder than usual.

Before I could try and stand up again, a foot slammed into my left kidney, making me throw up blood.

"How dare you touch me!" Hamdo thundered, kicking me again. "How dare you even think to do it! Die! Die! Die!"

He kicked me in the back of my legs, and then bent down to punch me in the gut, sending my meal out of my body. It didn't get very far, and the majority of it stayed in my mouth. It was sickening, but nothing as horrible as the multiple blows Hamdo landed all over my stiff body. I couldn't fight back, I couldn't even cry out in pain. The only part of me that worked was my mind, and that was being consumed with the impulses that my body sent whenever Hamdo kicked my spleen further in, or caused me to hack out more of my blood when he knocked one of my teeth—my left front tooth—out.

But, just as soon as it started, his assault stopped, and I just laid down there on the floor, bleeding from ten different spots on my body. I craned my eyes to look at Hamdo, who was hyperventilating in a corner, as Kazam looked him over, but then he brushed his loyal soldier aside to point a finger at me. "You will continue to work for me, boy!" he snarled at me. "And I will make sure your precious Sara never has a moment's rest for the remainder of her days!"

He stormed out of the room, leaving Kazam and me behind. Tears finally left my eyes, after I'd tried to get them out ever since the attack. All I could do was think of all the failures I'd committed once Hamdo had finished beating me up.

I'd failed again. I'd failed as a man. I'd failed as a protector. I'd failed as a man of God. I'd failed Sara.

I had sold my soul to the devil of this wasteland, and had gotten my just rewards. I deserved death in all of its many forms.

But you know, sometimes we don't always get what we deserved.

Someone was shifting me over to my back, allowing me to find out it was Kazam. I tried to speak, but the words wouldn't come out. He held a finger to his mouth.

"You're lucky this is all that happened, Matt," he said, checking my wounds. "I know you wanted to get back at him, but you should have known what I would've been forced to do. Hamdo is too valuable to die. _Hellywood _needs him."

"But…he's…" I managed to say, trailing off.

"Crazy? Yes, I suppose he is, but he's all I have now. I once had a simple life in my own village, but that changed once his soldiers took me away to fight. This is all I have, Matt. I can't let you change that yet."

The tears returned to my eyes.

"But…Sara…she's going to be…"

I whimpered. I couldn't let myself say the next word. If I said it out loud, then it that meant it was going to happen. I'd deluded myself into thinking that. Fantasies have a place in this world, but when they warp your perception of reality, they need to leave.

"They're going to hurt her," I said. "She can't…go through that. She's just a girl. I need to protect her."

"But you can't anymore, Matt," Kazam said, adjusting me so that I could support myself against the metal walls of the room. "You failed."

"I…I—That's beside the point! It's going to happen to her, and…and she'll never be…treated right. All they'll do is hurt her. No one would treat her the way I would."

I hated myself for saying that. What was I thinking? Sara was going to get raped and I had the audacity to ask for someone to treat her with respect? Ha! I can be such a fool sometimes.

"Maybe someone will," Kazam said. "Maybe someone will treat her the way you would expect yourself to, Matthew."

I shook my head. "I have to tell her. She has to know what's going to happen. She has to know I failed her. Take me to her, Kazam."

"But your wounds!" he protested, trying to get me to stop standing up.

"No! Take me to Sara now!"

I glared at him. No one was going to stop me from admitting my faults.

He sighed. "I will take you there, Matthew."

"Pick me up."

He did, carefully allowing me to stand, but with Kazam supporting me, as I was in no condition to walk by myself yet. I balanced myself and gathered my strength to leave, but then I saw something that pissed me off.

The mirror in the workroom revealed the way I looked after the beat down Hamdo had given me. Dried blood mixed with the flowing rivers that exited my multiple wounds and filled my body with the appearance that I was cracking. Bruises formed all over my face and legs, the parts of my body Hamdo had hit the most. I looked like a godforsaken early Nineties comic book anti-hero with some ludicrous name like Dr. Manslaughter or Violence. If it weren't so depressing a memory I'd laugh.

But I'm not through yet, oh no, because you see, I hated what I saw in the mirror, and gazing at my month-old white hair was not helping matters any. Before Kazam could stop me, I grabbed a recorder and flung it at the mirror, only shattering it into three parts, but two of them remained on the display it was mounted on. All of the fragments continued to reflect my outer appearance.

"You did this to her!" I shouted madly at the many images of me on the ground. "If you were whole you could've stopped this! I hate you!"

I tried to leave Kazam's grasp, but he held onto me tighter than I could attempt to flee, and I remained in place, crying at my inability to do anything I wanted to.

"I'm such a failure," I whimpered. "I can't even break a damn mirror. I'm just so damn useless."

"Not yet, Matthew," Kazam said as he forced me to stand upright. "There is still a chance for you to redeem yourself…somehow."

"But how?"

"I do not know, but I do know you cannot live in despair yet. I was once like you are right now, and all it did was ruin my life. Take my advice and adapt. The sooner you grow stronger, the sooner you can set out to do what is right. But until that moment comes, you must take it slowly. Even a baby must wait many months before it can walk with its parents."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" I asked, wiping the tears from my eyes.

"No, but it is meant to make you think," Kazam said. "I harbor no great love for King Hamdo, but neither can I disobey him yet. Find the right moment, Matthew, for the both of us, and we can make up for our mistakes."

I didn't believe a word he said to me. I was too caught up in my own torments to even register what he said to me, so I defiantly walked out with him to meet with Sara and tell her how I'd failed her yet again.

It was a long walk.

* * *

"Matt!" Sara cried out when she saw me. "What happened to you?"

Kazam dropped me in the center of the room and locked the door behind him.

"Sara…I'm sorry," I said, as she cradled me in her arms. "So sorry. I've failed you…again."

"What are you talking about, Matt?" she said. "You're hurt!"

"No hope…no hope anymore. They're taking you to…to be raped."

Her face froze and moments later she began to shiver violently.

The sudden opening of the cell door interrupted her and I heard a voice that I recognized as Nabuca's call out the word, "Out!"

Footsteps approached us and I gasped when I found Nabuca and Boo coming toward Sara. My eyes locked in with Boo's and at first he showed how afraid of me, but then he flashed forgiveness in my direction. It was more than I deserved.

"Move it!" Nabuca ordered Sara.

"But you're only children," Sara protested.

"Stand up!"

"No!" I cried out, coughing up blood in the process. "Please, I know I hurt the two of you, but you have to know what they're going to do to her! They're going to hurt her worse than any of us have been! Have mercy!"

Nabuca looked at me, shaking his head in disbelief. "Mercy? Enemies of King Hamdo receive no mercy."

Boo shivered and looked at Nabuca, but he stared him down. Nabuca reached for Sara's arm and grabbed her.

"No!" she cried out. "What are you doing?"

Nabuca pointed a gun at her face, making Sara stop her struggle to get free.

"This is an order!" Nabuca shouted.

I almost choked on a mixture of phlegm and blood that had swirled in my mouth and I coughed it up, trying to speak. Sara looked at me, as she understood why this was happening to her now and flashed an amalgamation of hate and sorrow at my face. She stood up and allowed a stray tear to exit her left eye.

"I'm so sorry, Sara," I said. "I tried."

"Matt, I know you did!" Sara shouted, as Nabuca forced her forward.

"Get a move on!" Nabuca ordered.

Boo took one last look at me and tried to say something, but he closed his mouth and followed Nabuca as he led Sara away from my sight.

Now it was my turn to be the only one in the cell waiting for the other to come back, only, this time, nothing would ever be the same between us.

A/N: Well, the next chapter will focus on the fallout from Sara's experiences. A character much talked about, but who hasn't appeared in person yet, will do so next chapter. It may be a very long time before Shu shows up physically, but he'll be back soon enough, I promise. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	12. Chapter 12

There's no such thing as patiently waiting when someone's life is on the line, when their purity's taken away from them, and when they're in danger of being killed.

No such thing.

My cell was lonely and so…huge. I'd never noticed how big it was. I figured out why: There had always been someone else in there to fill it up with me.

But now she was gone. Sara was gone. The Sara I'd always known, had always loved, was gone, taken away by agents of the abyss to fulfill the base desires of their satanic mastermind and his minions.

I saw flashes of what they were doing to her. I heard her screaming for help, but none of these were corporeal. I could only imagine what was happening and nothing I came up with cheered me up.

Imagining things is bad enough, but when physicality is brought into the picture, things go downhill fast. Soldiers had placed a mirror in front of my cell, and well beyond my reach, which had drastically decreased after the savage beating Hamdo had delivered to me. I saw myself in the mirror, hating every moment of it.

I looked like a piece of cracked china. There were red lines running all over my body, which were filled with dried blood, as my body had healed myself well enough to prevent extra loss. (If that had kept up, I wouldn't have been able to talk to you right now.) My hair, minus the stray streams of blood across it, remained solid white.

I hated it. I hated my body. It wasn't me. I had black hair, fair skin…nothing like this abomination that stared back at me.

_You did this to her, _a voice that sounded suspiciously like my own informed me. _You did this to her. You did this to her. You did this to her. _

"No…" I said, trying to muster the strength to speak. "I…I tried. Stop it. No…"

_You did this to her. You did this to her. You did this to her. You did this to her. _

I cringed, and wept, as my body convulsed from the culmination of all that had happened to me. It got so bad my heart started to act up and I swallowed three pills—the new ones Hamdo had provided me and synthesized from his plants from the gardens—instead of the normal two, accidentally knocking myself out. Sometimes I wish it had stayed that way.

The sound of crying woke me up. A woman crying.

Sara.

I opened my eyes, trying to see, but night had entered the room since the last time I'd been awake and I had to adjust to the lack of sight. I used what night vision I could muster to find Sara and located her shaking as she held her knees against her face right beside one of the corners of the room. Every now and then she'd acknowledge me being in the room, but then she'd freak out and go back to staring off into space.

"Sara…" I said, trying to pick myself up, but I slammed back to the ground.

She let out a squeal in the corner, closing her eyes.

I accidentally scraped off several scabs on my body, letting more of my precious blood leave my system, and I screamed out in pain, making Sara do the same. I strained my body, forcing myself to get up, even though the pain begged me to stay down. I took a small step over in her direction, following with another, trying to inch myself over to her. She looked at me in horror and tried to evaporate into the wall.

"No, get away from me!" she screamed out, but it was directed at me. She was reliving her earlier experience. I kept approaching her. "Don't touch me! No!"

I collapsed in front of her, the strain from walking eleven feet at the most ruining my chance to get beside her. My face made contact with the metal floor, cracking my jaw and making my teeth cut open my gums.

My sudden fall actually had one bright spot, if that's even believable now, and that was because it made Sara break out of her trance.

"Matt!" she yelled. "Matt, no!"

I felt her dainty hands on me seconds later, as my mouth drooled out blood from my messed up gums. I'd chipped my other front tooth, the one that was still in my mouth, and the fragment of its bottom half laid down in front of my left eye.

"No, no, no, no!" Sara shrilled frantically. "Please be okay! Please be okay!"

I coughed up some more blood, noticeably less in quantity than the last couple of times I'd done it. I couldn't afford to keep getting hurt like this.

"Sara…" I said, gradually blacking out, but she brought me back to life.

"Yes, Matt?" Sara asked, looking down at me with horror in her eyes.

I finally saw the damage done to her. Sara's clothes were torn, as if they had been forcibly taken off of her during the assault. Whoever it was had either slapped her really hard or punched her on her left cheek, as a small scab had sprung up to replace the wound she'd received. Her legs were shaking, and I knew the exact reason why.

"Oh, God," I said. "Oh, God, no."

She slumped beside me, about as weak as I was and fell over my back, making me cringe, but I didn't cry out.

"Sara?" I asked.

Silence passed.

"Sara? Are you okay?"

No answer.

I shifted my head over to the side of my body where hers was and noticed that she was out of it. Whatever she had gone through was too much for her and she was sleeping.

I soon joined her.

"Get up!" a voice snarled in the darkness.

The source kicked me in the side, waking me up completely.

"No, leave him alone!" Sara cried out. "I…I'll…"

What adrenaline was left in my system caused me to push myself off the floor, where I found Sara sitting in front of me, trying to make sure whoever it was didn't get to me. When I discovered who it was, the adrenaline skyrocketed and I snarled, "What the hell do you want, Pashahanta?"

"I'll tell you what I had," he said, slurping as he looked at Sara. She cowered a little in front of me, but remained there to protect me.

I knew what he meant instantly. The bastard had arranged to get her first, in order to get back at the way I'd forced him to get hurt because of his own idiocy.

"You psychotic son of a bitch!" I roared, coughing at the end.

"Would you like to know how she is, kid?" Pashahanta asked. "How well she moves when prodded the right way? I didn't make her do it once…she stayed with me a very long time."

If ever I wanted to have the power to strike someone down dead, it was that point in my life. I glared at him, while placing a hand on Sara's shoulder. I admired her bravery at facing up against the man who'd just violated her not but a couple of hours before.

She always did have more strength than me.

"Why are you here, Pashahanta?" I asked. "If you're here to gloat, then go away and screw yourself."

For someone without any bargaining chips or protection, I sure do have a massive tendency to mouth off to people, further endangering the people I love and myself. Call it a character flaw.

He laughed at me. Sara took a moment to look back and winced at the glare that I unintentionally showed her.

"Hamdo wants you to try something," Pashahanta said.

"Shouldn't you be addressing him as King Hamdo?" I asked. "I'm sure he'd like to know how insubordinate you are. Maybe he'll shoot you again. That ought to be fun."

He glared back at me. "Like he'd believe me over you. If it hadn't of been for Kazam, I could've gotten away with it. Besides, he's got a new job for you that's way more important."

"And what would that be?"

"He wants you to replicate Lala-Ru's pendant."

"He wants me to what?"

Pashahanta roared with laughter.

"There's no way in hell I can do that!" I protested. "I don't even know if the damn thing exists, let alone making one! How can I create some pendant I have no idea even exists and then magically make water appear out of nowhere?"

"You think I care?" Pashahanta asked. "That's what he's making you do, so that's what you're gonna do. You're meeting her."

"Who?"

"Lala-Ru, stupid."

Sara stiffened, and when I tried to extend my hand around her neck to let her know it was okay, she didn't respond. I shifted myself forward to see that she was blankly staring off into the distance again.

That pissed me off. I had no desire to see Lala-Ru. It was her fault we were even in this mess to begin with. I hadn't even had a chance to try and comfort Sara about her situation. We'd both been too tired to do anything. She had obviously woken up before me and tended to some of my wounds, because I felt strips of her clothing over certain parts of my body, but that wasn't enough. I needed time to talk to her…to try and make her feel better, if such a thing were even possible. The last thing I needed to do was be in the same room as Lala-Ru.

Pashahanta took out his weapon, another mass-produced taser and grinned at me. "I said it's time to go, kid. You'd better start before I do something really nasty to your little girlfriend again."

Sara grabbed my hand, but she was still all but comatose. I applied some pressure to her other hand, letting her know I was still there.

"Fine then," I said, standing up. "Let's get this travesty over with."

I pushed myself off the ground, stumbling at first, but I regained my balance and stood in place, trying to see if I could keep going. My body screamed at me to sit back down, but I ignored it against my better wishes. I took one step forward, felt the pain all over me, and kept ignoring it. I took one last look at Sara, who was finally responding to the world around her.

"I still love you, Sara," I said. "It'll take more than these sadistic bastards to get rid of that feeling."

Sara nodded.

"Oh, how sweet," Pashahanta said. "We'll see how you feel after the next round the two of us have."

I ignored him. I had to. If I didn't I'd end up getting hit with yet another taser that would incapacitate me again, leading to Sara getting assaulted by another soldier. Maybe if I cooperated they'd leave her alone.

Fantasies are such fragile things, but at least they serve a purpose in this world.

"Now get a move on," Pashahanta said, pushing me forward.

He led me through the halls of _Hellywood_, taking me to a level I'd been before: The one where I'd met Hamdo in his garden, but this time I took a different path. We headed off to another corridor, while I wondered what Lala-Ru would be like.

The legends from the archives of _Hellywood_ were always different. Most of them started with how beautiful and majestic she was when she offered water to impoverished villages, but then they always showed her in a negative light, due to unknown reasons. She was then regaled as a merciless killer who murdered children while they slept for daring to try and gain access to water during the daytime. She had to be an older woman, maybe in her seventies or eighties, because these legends had been going on for years.

"In there," Pashahanta said, opening and door and sending me to its floor.

I shook my head as I tried to get a hold of myself. I almost threw up whatever was left in my stomach, but held it in. Coughing, I gagged once more, but forced it to stop, as I picked myself up to see where I was.

Wherever it was, it was extravagant, as if it were built for royalty. The tapestries were a magnificent royal purple, and majestic gold bars supported them. Plants were placed all over the place, bringing red, yellow, and orange into the room. A king size bed lay in the center of the room, and it looked like it had been rested on recently.

I stood up and dusted myself off. I heard a girl somewhere nearby gasp and my ears directed me to my left, where I found a small girl around eleven or twelve looking back at me with fear in her eyes, if you could call them true eyes. They had odd irises and pupils, marking her as different from everyone else immediately. In the center of her eyes was a pale orb surrounded by a dark blue ring. But it was her hair that got to me: It was the color of the sky, so much that it reminded me of the color that one team, the North Carolina Tar Heels, had. My father had gone to Duke, so I was naturally mistrustful of anything Carolina blue. She wore a simple white sweater and black pants. They were so normal it made me think of home.

"Don't be scared," I said. "I'm not here to hurt you, kid. My name's Matthew King, but you can call me Matt."

She seemed to register what I said, but still cowered against the wall. I tried to find out why she'd act that way and looked down, finding the reason.

"Oh, I guess I do look scary right now, don't I?" I asked.

That was putting it lightly. I looked like a godforsaken Satanic ritual gone awry.

I sat down and stared at her, trying to smile, but I found it hard to do for real, so I faked it. She didn't respond to it. I scratched the back of my head. "Did they take you away from your home too?" I asked. "They took me and my girlfriend from our homes. They thought she was somebody named Lala-Ru."

The girl quivered at the name, as if it wasn't supposed to be spoken. I frowned and looked her over, resting my eyes at her forehead, which had hair that looked exactly like the way Sara's did.

_Wait a second, _I thought. _Then that means…_

My jaw dropped. "You're Lala-Ru? You've got to be kidding me, you're just a kid."

She froze, her secret exposed. "Why are you here?" she asked, speaking in a tone that suggested she was far older than she looked. "Have you come here to hurt me too?"

I stared at her for a moment, still trying to process everything I'd just learned. I started to cough uncontrollably, sending me into more pain from the sudden movement.

"This…This is impossible," I said. "You don't look anything like what I imagined you'd be. You're just a kid."

"I…am not a child," she said, situating herself up.

I threw my hands up. "Fine, fine, you're not a kid."

I couldn't believe it. She was young, no older than twelve, and yet here was the girl Hamdo was so interested in finding. This was the girl who'd forced Abelia to take Sara and me from home.

"This is some sick joke," I said, panting and holding my chest. "This can't be true at all. Hamdo's insane if he thinks this'll work. You don't even have the damn pendant. I don't want to be near the thing, let alone figure out a way to build another one. What was the point of sending me here? He's crazy. Lala-Ru is this…"

I looked up, unable to finish my sentence and exchanged glances with her.

"So that's why you're here…to use my powers for Hamdo," Lala-Ru said, a glare forming in her eyes.

"No, it's not like that at all," I said. "He's making me do this. He took us from our homes and made us work for him. He made Sara…This is all your fault!"

I charged her, surprising both her and myself and my sudden change of attitude. I lifted her up and glared at her as she changed her expression from concern to fear.

"This is all your fault!" I shouted. "You made them take Sara and me away! You made them force me to work and worry over her! You made them…made them take…her life…her virginity away. You did…I did…"

I broke down and cried, slowly bringing Lala-Ru to the floor as I collapsed, my many muscles failing to support me.

"This is all my fault," I wept. "I sold my soul to protect her. I can't blame you at all…it's not your fault. You weren't there. You didn't do it. Why, God? Why is this all happening to us? Why won't you answer me?"

I continued crying, mourning my very pathetic existence. Mourning what Sara had gone through because of my failures. I couldn't blame Lala-Ru; it wasn't her fault they mistook Sara for her. I needed something…someone to blame, and if I couldn't blame her, then I was the next best target.

I felt her presence next to me and I started to tell her to leave me alone, but the words wouldn't come, so I just stayed there, hands keeping me up, as I stared at the floor.

Before I knew it, this cooling sensation poured all over my body. It chilled me, but never once felt bad. Suddenly, the majority of my pain started to leave me, as if it had simultaneously decided to pack up shop and leave me behind.

I looked up, finding Lala-Ru bent down on her knees, as she held her hands over my body. They were covered in a light that cast a bluish glow, and she moved them all over me, hitting every area of my body that had been thrashed by Hamdo the other day. I watched the whole thing in silence; never once believing any of it was real. I wondered if I'd finally cracked under the pressure and was hallucinating the whole thing, but the idea that it was really happening persisted in my mind.

_She doesn't even have the pendant,_ I thought. _How can she be doing this? _

"I have been entrusted with much power by the Creator," she said simply, as if she'd read my thoughts. "The pendant is only part of that."

"I…I…" I said, failing to form anything besides that.

I looked down at my body and found all of my wounds were gone. It was if they had never existed in the first place. I felt better than I had in years.

"Now leave me alone," she said, standing up and lying down on the bed.

I did. I waited until someone took me out, they didn't even bother to ask if I had found anything useful. It seemed as if everyone knew it was a wild goose chase.

My mood didn't improve by the time it took to get back to my cell. Sara was still there, and mercifully hadn't been taken away for someone else to abuse. Her shock as she saw my change in appearance was exactly what I'd expected. She touched me, not able to believe the miracle I was still trying to grasp.

"Matt…but how?" Sara asked, looking over my body for the scars that should've been there.

I looked her dead in the eye and said, "Lala-Ru."

She stopped her inspection and quivered. "You…met her?"

I nodded. "Yes I did, Sara. She…healed me. I don't know why or how, but she did."

Sara tensed up. "If she thinks this makes up for everything else, than she's wrong! Dead wrong!"

I was taken aback by the sudden change in attitude, but I also grew to understand it a moment later.

Clenching her fists, Sara sunk her head and fumed. "That…That bitch did this to me! Does she really think I can forgive her after all I've gone through?"

I sighed, knowing that the conversation that I'd wanted to have under different circumstances was coming now when I wasn't prepared for it.

"Sara, can we sit down and talk?" I asked.

"Do what?" she asked, looking at me, the first signs of tears forming in her brilliant blue eyes.

"Can we sit down and talk about…about what happened to you?" I asked.

"I…yes?" Sara said uncertainly.

I placed my arm around her shoulder and took her to the back of the cell. I sat down, allowing her to take her usual spot in the corner. For the longest time we just sat there and stared at one another. It was unnerving; neither of us really wanted to talk about this subject, but we knew it had to come out sometime.

"Sara, it's not your fault," I said after a minute's wait. "Please don't ever blame yourself for what happened."

She stared at me for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. "I don't, Matt."

That was a good sign. At least she wasn't blaming herself for the events. I'd read stories of women—men as well, to be fair—who'd convinced themselves their part in the rape was entirely their own faults, because of various, petty reasons that made no point. They were just unable to psychologically bring reality into what had happened to them.

"Do you…Do you blame me?" I asked, looking away from her.

She didn't answer at first, making me uncomfortable. "No, I don't."

Euphoria overtook me. If Sara didn't blame me, then what business did I have doing the same to myself? But then she finished her sentence.

"I blame her," Sara said defiantly. "I blame Lala-Ru! She forced this on me! On you! We weren't supposed to be here! We're supposed to be at home, going to school, and getting ready for you to go off to college! It was my birthday! I wanted to figure out what I wanted to do with my life! I hadn't decided yet!" She paused. "Now I'll never find out."

Sara had been trying to decide between becoming a nurse or working as a teacher for elementary age kids. I'd personally encouraged her to pursue the teaching option, as I'd seen the way she enjoyed spending time with kids. I loved the way she laughed when one of the little guys pulled off some crazy stunt to impress her. It seemed like that was what she was meant to do, but now it felt like she was right: She never would find out.

I was conflicted on what to say. I'd had my own experience with Lala-Ru, and she had healed me up just fine, even after the way I'd treated her. Maybe if Sara just met her, then she would understand that Lala-Ru hadn't wanted anyone else to get hurt.

"If I ever see her, I'll kill her," Sara proclaimed. "What does she look like?"

She searched my eyes for information. I couldn't deny her this important piece of info. Maybe if I did she would see the light of day.

"She looks like she's maybe eleven or twelve, but she says she's much older than that," I said. "She's got blue eyes and blue hair. Her hair's shaped like yours…which is why Abelia assumed it was you when she found you."

It felt like I was sealing Lala-Ru's death sentence. It didn't feel right, telling Sara, the woman I'd known and loved for the better part of two years of my life, about this crucial information. I hoped my instincts were wrong and that I was worrying about nothing.

"Matt, if you see her again, will you kill her for me?" Sara asked, sobering me up.

"What?" I asked.

"If you see her again, will you kill her for me?" Her eyes pleaded with me. She was serious about this idea.

How could I possibly answer? It was immoral to kill another human. Was Lala-Ru even human in the first place? She looked human enough, but then again she was different, almost like she had been meant to appear like one of us. What was it she had told me? She'd mentioned something about being entrusted with her power by the Creator? Did she mean God? Was she some kind of angel sent by the Almighty to aid humanity in these tough times? If I killed her was I killing someone appointed by God to save us? Was it even possible to kill her? Why was I even bothering with all these questions that revolved around killing someone else?

For Sara; I would do anything for her. But murder? That was a different question entirely. She wasn't in her right mind. What woman would be after suffering everything she'd just gone through?

"Matt, will you do it?" she asked again, bringing me back to reality.

I lied. I had to. It was the only way for me to help her out. If I played along for now, then she would eventually regain her old personality and see the foolishness behind this idea. It had to work.

"Yes, Sara. If I see Lala-Ru again, I will kill her."

"Thank you, Matt," Sara said, as she drew closer to me, resting her head on my chest. "This is her fault. You could always protect me before, but once she came, she made it so you couldn't. I still trust you to protect me."

I stroked her hair, the first time I'd done so in weeks. It was just so paradoxically peaceful, considering what I'd just agreed to do.

"And I always will, Sara," I said, this time meaning every single word.

Nothing was going to stop me from protecting her.

Except for everything that did.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: The next chapter is here, my friends. I have no clue when the next one will come. I'm slammed with work this week, but, knowing me, I won't do it until the last second and may use that time to do this instead. Hope you enjoy it. As always, please let me know if there is anything that needs my attention here. Oh, by the way, if anyone cares, the finale to _Now and Then, Here and There_ is on SyFy tonight at 12.

Chapter 13

The cell door opened the morning after, waking me up. I instinctively placed my arms around Sara, making her wake up in the process. I looked over to the door and saw Tabool and two other kids his age and dressed in _Hellywood_ attire.

"You there, girl, it's time for your next round!" Tabool said, sneeringly.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?" I asked, clutching Sara tighter. "She hasn't had enough time to recover yet."

"Humph, who gives a damn how long she's supposed to wait, so long as she does what King Hamdo wants?"

"Why you little arrogant son of—" I said, trying to get up, but Sara beat me to the punch, offering her hand soothingly on my face.

"It's okay, Matt," she said, knowing it was anything but. "I'll go. Watch out for yourself."

I sighed, gradually letting go of her. She was right of course. Did I really think I could do anything to stop her from leaving?

"I will, Sara," I said. "Watch out for yourself, too…as…as best you can."

Sara nodded and walked toward Tabool, who tied her hands together with a rope and led her away, saying, "King Hamdo wants you to go upstairs and meet him, boy."

Who the heck was he calling "boy?" That snot-nosed little punk had another thing coming.

"Without an escort?" I asked.

"You know the way, don't you?" Tabool said, laughing as he took Sara out of my line of sight.

I watched them leave, unable to understand why no one was going with me to meet with Hamdo. It was such a serious breach in security, the type that got your beloved leader dead. I could even be the one to do it. Why would they let me go around wherever I went? I could try to escape. I could find Sara, save her, and then take our chances in the desert. I called myself crazy for having that thought. There was no logical reason to think that plan would work.

That was why they didn't care: I thought logically. There was no logical reason to kill Hamdo, because logically I'd have to deal with a battle station housing thousands of loyalists. There was no logical reason to save Sara and take our chances in the desert, because logically chances were we'd end up dead. So then, logically, they had nothing to worry about from me.

Logic and life don't always mix. I had a lot to learn.

I walked out of my cell, resigned to my fate. It was downright pathetic, really. If I were really thinking things through, I'd knock out a soldier, take his weapon, take control of Hamdo's room, kill him quickly and silently, locate Sara, kill the guy with her, find one of the time tunnel operators, and then force them to take us back.

Was it risky? Hell yeah it was, but it would have been worth it too. It could work, if I took the time to think things through a bit.

Did I do it?

No, otherwise this story would be much shorter, and I never would have been so graced with your presence.

So, unable to do what needed to be done, I kept on to my intended target: Hamdo and his garden. It was the only place I could think he'd be, so I figured it was as good an idea as any to head there.

I was rewarded with his presence the moment I opened the door, and he beamed at me, surprisingly happy at something I had done.

"It worked!" Hamdo exclaimed, throwing a flower to the ground. "Ha-ha! I am a genius! I am a genius!"

I furled my eyebrow, not knowing what he meant by it. I honestly expected him to be freaking out at my sudden change in appearance, seeing as how he'd just delivered a beating to me the other day.

He approached me, grinning madly, as he seized me by the shoulders and hugged me, bringing me up in the air.

"You magnificent boy!" he said. "You've done it!"

"But I didn't do what you asked me to," I protested, gasping for air. "I couldn't make the pendant."

"Forget the pendant, my dear boy, you've proven beyond a shout of a doubt that Lala-Ru will heal my soldiers! We shall find the pendant in due time, but for now this is a remarkable miracle!"

He brought me back on the ground, letting me catch my breath.

So that was why he'd sent me there: To see if Lala-Ru would heal my injuries. I'd been played like a fool.

Hamdo smiled at me, knowing what I was thinking. My face had betrayed me way too easily, anyone could read my thoughts if they wanted. I had to work on that if I was going to make it out of this alive.

"But that doesn't make up for your lack of work," he said, smile gone.

I closed my eyes, knowing what was coming next, or at least I thought I did.

"Perhaps you need some motivation," Hamdo said, turning his back to me. "Yes, that should work. A splendid idea if I do say so myself."

"And what would that be, sir?" I asked.

"I believe I've sent your precious little Sara on some excursions recently."

"Yes," I said, fuming inwardly.

I told myself to calm down. If I did something stupid, I could end up taking yet another beating from Hamdo, and Sara would be worse off, if that was even possible.

"How do you feel about that?" Hamdo asked.

I stared back at him, unsure if the question was even a serious one. What kind of person even asks a question like that?

"How do I feel?" I repeated. "Pissed off, what the hell else am I supposed to feel right now?"

Hamdo smirked, as he turned around and pointed at my chest. "I thought you Disciples weren't supposed to use the word hell in such a way."

I looked down at the area of my body he was pointing at and found my cross necklace. Could I even consider myself a "Disciple" now? I didn't even know if I still believed in God. The only reason my necklace was still on my body was because I'd forgotten it existed.

"This is a special circumstance," I said.

"I see," Hamdo said. "So you're just another filthy hypocrite, like every single Disciple I've ever met."

"Maybe so, but that doesn't change what you've done to Sara. What are you trying to tell me about her?"

"Do you love Sara?" Hamdo asked.

"Yeah, I kinda do," I said, rage building up at an unpleasant rate.

"Would you be willing to protect her? To die for her?"

"Last time I checked."

"Then why the hell haven't you been working harder for me!" Hamdo asked, slapping me across the face and sending me to the ground hard.

Although Lala-Ru had been able to heal me, she had failed to return my teeth to their proper place, resulting in the fall causing much greater agony to me than it should have done when the holes allowed other teeth to cut skin inside my mouth. My face felt like a rock had propelled itself at a massive rate and my hand brought back the phantom pain of the time I'd broken it in my cell.

"It seems to me you need some more motivation," Hamdo said, wiping off his hand with some cloth. "Perhaps you don't care as much about Sara as you've deluded yourself into thinking. We shall see soon enough."

I tried to pick myself up off the floor, but Hamdo grabbed me by the hair and brought my face next to his, as he glared back at me. My hair felt like it was on fire, and I tried to let out my pain, but Hamdo's glare stopped me.

"You have been a mixed bag, boy," Hamdo said. "True, I've had much success with some of your plans, but you have deceived me as well. Yes, you have lied to me."

He let go of my hair and I fell face first on the floor. My nose crunched against the metal, and I knew instantly it was broken.

"Perhaps if you were to actually see what happens when my men take Sara away with them?" Hamdo suggested.

My eyes widened. I lifted my face from the ground and looked at Hamdo. Was he being serious? Would he actually make me do that? If he was sick enough to force Sara to perform those lurid acts, then he was sick enough to make me watch. I felt for her. It was bad enough that she had to go through all of that, but to have me in the room as well. I couldn't imagine how that would make her feel.

"Of course you'll be chained to the side so that you can't interfere," Hamdo said. "For your own good, of course."

How does somebody even respond to a statement like that? It was a classic no-win situation. He might as well have said, "Hey, Matt, guess what? I'm going to force you to watch your girlfriend get sexually abused in front of you, but don't worry about trying to stop it, because you'll be restrained. Hope that's okay with you. Thanks." That cheap, sadistic, two-bit despot makes me sick.

"Unless you have something to make me take back that statement," Hamdo said.

My mind raced immediately, trying to find something of value I still had that could possibly end this. They didn't care about history or anything I could tell about the past, other than something they could use for war. I'd exhausted all of my resources in that area. If there was a car here, I could work on it. If there was something small I could fix, I could do it, but _Hellywood_ was filled with large problems, none of which I was able to solve.

I had nothing to offer.

Nothing.

I'd failed Sara again.

I hung my head in shame.

"Maybe if—" I started, trying to stall for time.

"Then you had better think of something else while you watch the next time I let this happen," Hamdo interrupted. "You may leave."

I picked myself off the floor and obeyed, heading back to the cell. I cursed myself for not finding a way to help him out, and cursed Hamdo for putting me in that situation.

I wanted him to die.

I almost got my wish.

* * *

Sara returned to the cell, remarkably looking better than the last time she'd come back from her forced encounters. She didn't shiver, didn't cry, didn't do anything that I'd thought she would. All she did was enter the cell, locate me, and sit down, resting on my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her, not knowing what to say, or if I should even mention what would happen the next time this happened. I didn't know what to even ask her. Saying something like, "Hey, babe, how'd the rape go this time around?" wasn't one of those things that tend to strengthen bonds between loved ones.

Sara, however, could pick up on what I was thinking about, and answered, "It wasn't that bad this time, Matt."

"Not that bad this time?" I repeated. "How the hell can it not be bad, Sara?"

She rose up and stared at me, a hint of animosity in her eyes. "Of course it was still bad, Matt. I was still raped! I was just trying to calm you down!"

"Okay, okay! I'm calmed down now."

"No you're not. You're hiding something from me. Did you know what he said about you, Matt?"

I did a double take. "Who said what about me?"

"Kazam."

"Kazam? Why were you talking to—Oh…he was the one who…"

Sara nodded. "He arranged it so that he'd have me. I didn't tell you, but the other day while you were away, they brought Shu back in here, but took him back out. A little later, while they were looking for the pendant, I'd fled behind one of the pipes in here, leaving my handkerchief behind and he…he gave it back to me. He's nice."

"But he still raped you, Sara," I reminded her.

She shot a dark look at me. "The only reason he did it was because he listened to what you said to him the other day! He told me he didn't want the other soldiers to do it, because that meant they wouldn't do what you wanted them to do!"

"What I wanted them to do? I want them to stay away from you and if they should be near you, then they should treat you the way you should be treated."

"Well guess what, Matt, it isn't happening that way, so he had to compromise. He said that you told him you wanted someone to treat me the way you would: With genuine care and affection. Kazam said nobody he knew would ever do that to me, so he took it upon himself to help you and me out."

I couldn't believe it. Kazam was the one this time around…and he'd listened to what I'd said. He'd treated Sara right. He still raped her, but he did it with some weird form of paradoxical care I couldn't even begin to fathom. It was still wrong, but I had been doing wrong by helping out Hamdo, so the differences between us weren't that, well, different. I understood and hated him at the same time.

"So he didn't…didn't hurt you, he just…" I said, trailing off.

Sara nodded.

I didn't know how I felt about that. Kazam was the only nice man I'd ever met on _Hellywood_, and had always listened to me when I needed someone to confide in. He was also the man who'd shot me in the back of the neck with my own mass-produced tasers, because he was loyal to Hamdo. He was this mass of contradictions.

Just like me.

"I don't know what to think either, Matt," Sara said, returning to my shoulder. "I don't know what to think anymore."

There was a minor silence, as Sara grew closer to me.

"What did you do today?" she asked.

"Um, I, uh, saw Hamdo," I said. "He's not happy with me."

"Why?"

I slumped a little. "Because I'm out of ideas."

"I'm sure you can come up with something, Matt. You always do."

"There's something else he's making me do."

"And what's that?"

I paused. I didn't want to tell her, but she had a right to know. Besides, she'd know soon enough.

"The next time that you're…called on, I have to be with you and watch the whole thing."

Sara rose up, looking at me with horror in her eye. She shook her head. "No, no, this can't be happening. I don't want you to see…"

She stood up and walked away, holding her sides.

"Sara," I called out, trying to coax her back.

"You can't be there," she said, mostly to herself. "I can't let you see all the…the nasty things. You can't be there. I can't be there."

I stood up and went to her side, taking her hand. She looked over to me as I gently spun her around and brought her close to me. "Sara, I don't know if there's anything I can say right now to put anything that's happened to you in perspective, but I want to say something to you real quickly. This whole thing sucks and I don't know why it's decided to happen to us right now, but that doesn't matter. I want to do everything I can to protect you, but I don't know how. No matter what happens, I will always love you, Sara Marie Ringwalt."

I reached down and kissed her. She hadn't expected it, so my aim was a little off, and, to tell the truth, it was a spur of the moment decision, but we made it work. I wished it could have lasted forever, but, once again, what I want hardly ever comes when I want it to.

Sara broke off the kiss first and smiled at me, a rarity these days. "And I love you too, Matthew Soterios King."

I smiled back at her. I'd always loved my middle name. Soterios was Greek in origin, just like my mother. She told me one day that it meant "savior" or "deliverer."

I led her back to our corner and we both tried to go to sleep. Sara was able to do it an hour later. I, on the other hand, was wide awake, trying to find a way to think up an idea that would stop Hamdo from making me watch Sara, but there wasn't anything I could come up with.

However, there were other thoughts that ran through my mind that day.

I had to get back at them.

I formed a plan.

That night, when they took me away from Sara again to work, I put it into action.

* * *

It was easy to plant it. _Hellywood's _security was a joke, and I'm betting they had no idea something like this could even be performed. If I was given the right chance, I could end it forever. I could render Hamdo helpless against his enemies.

But there was one major problem: The systems were so slow, that it would take weeks for my plan to even work, because my present would have to embed itself into everything, and that would take a while.

I didn't have a while. Sara didn't have a while.

Pissed off, I did it anyways, just in case the chance arose. Until that moment, I would monitor its progress and try to find another way to escape. I planted a codeword in there, one triggered by my voice, giving me supreme control of it. It was a message that I hold very dear to my heart.

I was alone in the workroom, Hamdo's lax security progressing here as well. His mistake. When someone was with me, I never would have dared to perform something of this magnitude. It wasn't something I had ever done before back home, but I had learned how to do it online, in one of my many hours of boredom. It was surprisingly easy work and, if I'd done it back home, untraceable, not that I ever had to worry about getting caught there.

So, with nothing else to do, I tried relaxing in my chair, but failed tremendously. Thoughts of Sara's situation bombarded my mind and ruined my mood.

Alarms sounded off behind me, making me rise up in shock, banging my knees against my work desk. Tending to them, I heard Abelia's voice over the intercom, saying, "An assassin is on the lam in _Hellywood_. All personnel will divide into groups of five and comb the ship. Whoever finds the fugitive may execute him on sight."

"An assassin?" I repeated. "From where? Here? Some other nation?"

I sat there in the room, waiting for someone to come and tell me what was going on or to tell me to go back to my room. No one came for the longest time, leaving me to my own devices. I decided against leaving, since everyone would be on high alert and I wasn't wearing _Hellywood_ attire, which might make some trigger-happy fool shoot me in a state of panic.

Hours later, a random guard found me, said that the assassin had been killed along with his fellows, but Hamdo was safe. Grunting inwardly, I followed him back to the cell and met up with Sara, explaining what had happened. She was as disappointed that I was that the assassin had failed, so we went to sleep, knowing tomorrow that we would face the toughest thing our relationship had ever gone through.

However this time, escape was a possibility.

A/N: The next chapter will focus on episode six of the show, but will continue after the part shown in the opener of the episode ends. Until next time.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Well, this is here much earlier than I'd thought. Both of my classes got canceled today, so I had plenty of time to write. I also had some time to go to Best Buy and look for the _Now and Then, Here and There_ DVD collection and was rewarded with its presence. I promptly bought it and brought it to my dorm. So far all I've gotten is the English dub, but that's a-okay with me. I much prefer the English voice actors, although the Japanese edition is also amazingly done. So, in other words, I'll be using the English dub from now on to write dialogue that happens in-series. Please let me know if there's anything I need to fix or if there's something that you'd like to bring up. Hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 14

If it was ever possible for a person to be prepared to watch his girlfriend get mercilessly raped in front of him, then that person was me, or so I deluded myself into thinking.

There were multiple ways I could've handled it. I thought through them all. I could close my eyes and whisk myself away to a personal happy place, but I could never do that to Sara. I couldn't show weakness to her again. I would watch the whole thing, and, in doing so, let her know I was there as a source of support, if such a thing were even possible.

So when the time came for it to happen, I was deucedly unprepared for the actual event.

Two random soldiers came to our cell and ordered me out first. They placed handcuffs on me and said they'd put another pair on me when they got to the room. Then they asked Sara to come forward, and tried to put some on her.

"There's no need for that," I said.

"And why not?" the first one asked.

I paused for a moment, trying to think of an explanation that worked. I decided to play the anti-feminism card. "Because she's just a woman. You know how weak they are. If she tried to punch you right now you wouldn't even feel it."

The soldiers looked at one another and then at Sara. The other man said, "Well, she is a scrawny little thing."

Sara gave me a look, not happy at my earlier comment, but I offered a half-wink at her, in order to throw the guards off if they saw me send it. She rolled her eyes and stood there, awaiting their decision.

"What the hell, if she struggles, maybe we can get a little piece of the action, too."

They led us off, Sara in front of the first man, and me in front of the other. I had plenty of time to think about what was going to happen next. I saw no way out of it. Sara was going to get raped for the third time, and I was going to watch the whole thing. I'd long lost any want for praying, so I didn't even bother asking any questions to a being I wasn't even sure existed anymore. If He did exist, He had a lot to answer for. I would make sure of that.

We stopped a couple of levels down in the soldier's quarters, where they pushed Sara in front of one door, and knocked on it.

_Please don't let him be there, _I begged of no one in particular. _Please don't let him be there. Please don't let him be there. Please don't let him be there. _

The door opened slightly and a burly man with a scar on the right side of his chin eased his head out, looking us over. "He really have to stay with us?" he asked.

The second soldier nodded. "King Hamdo's orders."

He grunted. "Well, fine then. Come in."

Sara dutifully walked inside, wearing a scowl the entire time. When she got halfway into the room, the man said, "Stop."

The guards pushed me inside, and the first one attached another handcuff on the left one on my hands to a ring-shaped part of one of the tables inside, sealing me there with no way of escape. I wished for a hairpin or one of those fancy things Batman used to use to get out of his enemy's many death traps, but I had no such device, and never would get one through my own devices. I was there to stay.

The man turned to the guards and said, "Thanks."

He closed the door and approached Sara, ignoring me completely. I tried to say something to her; to let her know it would be okay, but if I had, it would have been a lie, and the man would've beaten the heck out of me for interrupting him.

The man hunched over Sara's left side, saying, "Let's see…"

He took a moment to look at her breasts, and huffed, thinking them too small. I wanted to gut him then and there. No one was going to judge Sara's appearance while I was there, but I never got the chance to act up. He sniffed Sara, wearing an ugly look on his face the entire time.

After finishing his examination, he walked away, saying, "Doesn't look all that useless." He sat on his bed, scratching his head, and continued with, "A little scrawny for sure."

Sara drooped her head, knowing as much as I did what was going to happen next to her. The urge to speak up continued to run throughout my mind, but I shut it down, not wanting to endanger her anymore than she already was. I felt so helpless, like I was the most worthless man in the universe.

"Look over there, on top of the table," the man said.

Sara barely did so, remaining upright and staring off into space. I looked over to the place he was talking about, finding a blue bottle-looking thing on the table, along with what looked like an ashtray, a penholder, and various other items.

"I once killed the most men in a battle," the man boasted. "That was given to me by Lady Abelia on that occasion. Supposedly, it contains this particularly rare water. You want some?"

Sara, who'd actually turned her head a little when he brought it up, returned to face the man, who was now holding up his rifle with pride. I made a joke to myself about how he was overcompensating for something. It was funny. I didn't laugh.

"I'll give you some when we're done," he continued.

Sara's hands balled into fists and they started to twitch.

"Well, we're here to carry out an order by King Hamdo," the man said. "Try to have a healthy kid, will you?"

That son of a bitch dared to ask her something like that? I hated him even more. This whole godforsaken world was filled to the brim with psychotic, sadistic morons like this idiot. I wanted to get rid of every single one of them.

I tensed up in the uncomfortable position I was in. I couldn't move my hands or pick myself up to see things more clearly, not that I particularly wanted to, mind you, but it was the only way I could get comfortable.

The man kept on, saying, "With me as the father, it shouldn't be a problem. I bet he'll make a good soldier, just like me."

_No one's getting my Sara pregnant anytime soon, pal, _I thought, wishing I could actually speak out loud.

If only I knew then what I know now, but oh well, that's hindsight for you.

"Hey, don't just stand there!" he ordered Sara, as he dropped his gun on a pile of dirty clothes.

He stared at Sara, who was off looking into nothingness.

Sighing, he said, "You're wasting my time. Take them off already."

The man pulled off his own shirt, blinding him from what would happen next. Sara continued to tense up, and suddenly bolted over to the bottle of water, as she raised it above her head, ready to strike him down. It was so quick I could barely figure out what was going on. As soon as the man took off his shirt, Sara bashed the bottle over his head, making him grunt. Blood fell out of the wounded area and he fell back, as Sara went for the next strike, screeching out a battle cry that chilled me to the bone. As she brought the bottle down, the man protected himself with his shirt, which was still attached to his hands, blocking the assault. Sara tried again and hit the bed instead when the man rolled over to his right. The man pulled around and kicked Sara in the gut.

"Sara!" I cried out, finally in control of my vocal cords.

She fell to the side of the wall, hitting the back of her head against it, but the moment she did, she was ready to continue fighting.

I didn't know whether to cheer her on, or make her stop before he ended up hurting her in a way similar to what Hamdo had done to me. The coward in me tried to tell her to stop, but neither side came to an agreement, rendering me silent.

The man lunged for his gun, but Sara threw the bottle at his head, scoring a direct hit, and forcing more blood out of his system. With speed I'd never seen her use before in my life, Sara went for the gun and encountered the man in a tug of war over its possession. Sara eventually won, but hit the back of her head against the wall again, with the gun hitting her in front as well, but she kept on fighting. She pointed the gun at the man's head, hesitating when she reached the trigger.

A part of me wanted her to do it, to kill the man who was trying to rape her, but the other side warned me against it. It said that if she fired the gun, then that meant they would hear it outside and come to investigate. If they found one of their own dead, they'd kill the both of us. I had to choose silence once again, hoping Sara made the one decision that didn't end up with us dead.

Sara looked back and forth between the man who was going to rape her and the gun, trying to decide what to do. There was a mad look in her eye, the kind people get once they've been reduced to savagery, which we would learn about soon enough. The feral look in her eyes told me Sara was going to shoot the man, and I tried to close my eyes and not see it happen, but I looked anyways.

But then she tried to run away, deciding against murder. Before I could say anything to her, the man grabbed her by the foot and tripped her.

"No!" I shouted. "Stay the hell away from her!"

Mere words. What was I going to do to back it up?

"Shut up, runt!" the man shouted at me.

He picked himself up a bit and said, "Let's just get this over with!"

Sara struggled against him, as he pulled her back to him. He pulled Sara over, her legs spread open, and all hope I had of her making it out of this intact seemed to fade away. All he had to do was tear the only clothes she had left, and it would be done right in front of me. The escape was over. We had failed again.

The man, however, took his shirt and tried to smother Sara with it, while she tried to stop him. "Why you little—" he started, never knowing he wouldn't be able to finish that sentence.

Sara squealed, but the shirt muffled them. Then, when it looked like Sara was going to get knocked out, she used all of her remaining energy to take full control of the gun, using it to hit the man with the rifle's butt right in the face. He grunted, fazed at the sudden blow, but before he could do anything, she hit him again, and then again, this time finishing him off. He collapsed on her body, and she struggled to get him off of her, as both his body and the shirt was constricting her breathing.

"Sara, hold on!" I cried out, trying to force the handcuffs off of the ring, but both of them hung strong.

If I didn't get to her in time, Sara could get asphyxiated, and I'd be there, alone, with two corpses in the room, one more precious to me than anything else in the world. But I couldn't get free; the damn handcuffs were too strong, and I was malnourished, tired, depressed, and destitute. I didn't have Sara's will to fight back.

But then Sara surprised me once again, using her strength—aided by mounds of adrenaline—to push the man and shirt off of her. She pushed herself off the floor and stayed there on all fours, gasping for air.

"Sara, are you okay?" I asked, but was interrupted by the movement of the man, who was still alive.

Sara ignored me when she saw the man's chest rise, exposing his breathing, and then screamed like a mad woman, grabbing the rifle and slamming it into his face. But she didn't stop after the first strike, which cemented the man's death. No, she kept going on and on and on, disfiguring the man's body. Blood spattered everywhere, reminding me of some sick slasher flick built entirely on the concept of grossing out its viewers.

"Sara, stop it already!" I pleaded. "He's dead! Quit doing it!"

Hearing my voice, Sara dropped the gun, staring at what she'd done. The look of horror on her face told me what was going on in her mind, and neither of us liked it. _Hellywood_ had turned me into a liar, a cheat, and a man who'd lost his ideals, but Sara had been affected far worse. She'd been forced to live in a cell by herself, with no other contact with the outside world, worrying about herself and my condition, but then she'd been forced into the life of a sex slave, being raped twice, and almost a third time, but this time, she'd fought back, and was now a murderer.

"It's not your fault, Sara," I said quietly, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention our way. "You did what you had to do."

She looked back and forth between the corpse and me, panting for something to wash her sins away.

I tried to say something else to her, but then she suddenly rose up and came to one of the room's corners, throwing up everything in her stomach. I cringed, both from my inability to do the same in response to the body, and at what Sara had been forced to do. It wasn't her fault. He'd forced her to do it, right? She wasn't really a murderer, was she? It had been self-defense, plain and simple. Hamdo wouldn't see it that way, but it was the truth.

Sara crying on one of the mini-tables in the room brought me back to reality. I wanted to console her, to try and get her to realize the facts, but I was having a hard time truly justifying the murder, even if my heart told me it was right. A moment later she rose up and went for the bloody bottle, forcing its cap off it, and greedily drinking it down. When she finished, she put it down and started breathing heavily for a while. Then, later on, she picked herself off of the floor and stood up.

"Sara?" I asked, unsure as to what she was planning to do.

She passed by the corpse of the man she'd killed, staring at it the entire time. That's what it was now: An it. It may have been alive at some point, but no longer. It and the person it had been were dead. Sara's eyes followed her crime all over its body, finally resting them on me. We stared back at each other for the longest time, neither knowing what we should do or say next.

However, Sara took the initiative, grabbing something from her hair and using it to unlock my handcuffs. I realized it was a hairpin and watched in silence as she finished the job, and my hands were free. Rubbing the parts hurt the most by their enslavement, I looked over at Sara and she pointed at the bottle, silently telling me to get some. I obeyed and drank from it ravenously. It had been a long time since I'd had the chance to engorge myself on large quantities of the desperately needed substance. My rations had consisted of a quarter of a small cup every day. Hardly enough to survive off of for long periods of time, but useful enough in keeping me alive, so that I could do what I was supposed to. I found the man's personal effects nearby and scanned them for anything useful. One of my tasers was there, so I took it and put it inside my pocket. I returned to the bottle.

I finished up moments later, draining the whole thing. I put it down and looked at Sara, who was putting on a _Hellywood_ uniform she'd gained from the man's closet. When she caught me looking at her, she said, "We're leaving this godforsaken place right now, Matt."

"But where would we go?" I asked, not prepared to deal with the changes that had just appeared before us.

"In the desert. We'll take our chances in the desert."

"But, Sara, we don't even know if we can make it out there. We could die in that place, because we have no idea where we're going."

"Good," Sara said, finished with her new uniform. "It's better than dying slowly in here."

I opened my mouth to protest, but I was with her. I didn't want to spend another day in _Hellywood_, anymore than I wanted to put her in harm's way.

"You'll be my prisoner," Sara explained, pulling her hair up to make her look more like a man. "We'll go to the bottom levels and escape there."

I nodded, not knowing if we'd make it.

She put on a hat, pulled out a knife and said, "Now move it."

Acting just like her prisoner, I held my hands where everyone could see them and left the room first, Sara behind me. Footsteps alerted us to someone's presence and she almost froze in place, but reacted quickly, sticking the knife closer to me than I liked, but the man who passed us by didn't even give us any looks, even when Sara closed the door, concealing the murder. Sara waited for him to leave us behind, and then nudged me to the path we'd take to escape _Hellywood_.

Security had increased ever since Hamdo had been assassinated, but none of it was the type that would prevent a perfectly normal _Hellywood_ soldier from escorting the one who'd given them so many new toys to play with to his next attempt at finding new ways to help Hamdo continue warmongering.

I'd never been to the lower levels, and neither had Sara, but we both navigated down there, just as if we knew the place as much as the backs of our own hands. Some of the soldiers stopped to salute Sara and she saluted back, but other than that, no problems.

Scarily enough, there were no guards near one of the exits at the bottom of _Hellywood_, but we used this to our advantage, running outside, not even bothering to keep up the act as prisoner and escort this time around. No sirens came out, no alarms rung up, so, miraculously, we had escaped scot-free.

I couldn't believe it. Something was bound to go wrong. It had to. Murphy's law hated me as much as I hated it. Yet it never brought up its presence while we fled away from the towering hulk of _Hellywood_. I'd never noticed just how huge it was, but then again, I'd never been outside to see it. It looked like one of those ships you'd find at the bottom of the ocean. There were multiple abrasions all over it, and some areas were even completely open to the elements.

I didn't have much time to worry about _Hellywood's _status, as Sara, who'd taken my hand, forced me over a small collection of trash, where we hid, making sure the guard who was patrolling a bridge above us couldn't see or hear us. She rose up first and I followed, still holding her left hand. The wind howled, but the brunt of its impact was several hundred feet above us, so the sand remained mostly in place. We raced over the sand, which felt weird, even though we were both wearing shoes, mostly because we'd been used to stable ground. The sudden shift made us lose sight of where we were going and Sara ended up falling down a depression, taking me with her. We both collided on the ground, my knee hitting her in the side, but she didn't register any pain.

As I spit sand out of my mouth, Sara pushed herself up, shaking her hair back to its longer form. I stared at it awhile. I'd always loved Sara's long hair. It was as much a part of her features as my black hair had been to mine…back when I had black hair.

Sara looked up into the sky, witnessing the moon, the first time I'd ever paid much attention to it. It was massive, and looked as if it were right next to the earth. I wondered if any of the past Cataclysms had caused it to grow closer to the world, since it wouldn't be controlling the tides anytime soon. The moon was oddly green in color, but this was just an illusion caused by the desert sky. There were also several black clouds in the sky, but none of them held potential rain. They always remained in the sky, tempting those below with what could be. The Earth hated its inhabitants.

I pushed myself up while Sara stood, getting rid of the scarf that was a part of the _Hellywood_ uniform. It landed next to the hat she'd worn to protect her identity. Her gloves followed suit. While I dusted myself off, I noticed that more and more of Sara's clothes were starting to disappear from her body, ending with her only wearing a white-hued nightgown that she'd had for as long as we'd been there in _Hellywood_. She stood there, almost naked, letting what wind there was sway around her. All I could do was stare; I'd never seen her like this before as long as I'd known her. The closest was the time when we'd both swam together in San Diego Bay. She'd still worn a conservative one-piece swimsuit, but it looked just so perfect on her. I could barely stop myself from drooling. Of course she smacked me across the face and told me to stop ogling her, but I couldn't help it: Sara looked like the most perfect woman in the world to me.

This time was different. I was staring at her, but it wasn't from the typical male gaze. She was about to do something…something more important than I could ever hope to understand at the time. Sara looked like a jilted goddess, still incredibly perfect and beautiful beyond compare, but immensely sad and wary at the same time. I couldn't help but stare, wondering what was going on in her mind.

Then, just as she opened her eyes, Sara went for the knife, and unsheathed it. The worst came to mind, and I tried to stop her from killing herself, but she glared at me, unhappy that I'd misinterpreted her actions. I backed off, letting her do whatever it was that she needed to do.

Sara grabbed her hair, pulling it back so that nothing stayed in front but what was on top of her head. She brought the knife to her hair and slowly cut it off, letting small strands reappear slowly around the sides of her face. She brought the hair she'd sheared off into her left hand, and then let it soar away into the night sky, watching in wonder while it happened. I gazed at the exchange, watching the hair fly away from her, trying to figure out why she'd done it, but then I figured it out.

Sara was remaking herself. The Sara who'd lived before that moment was no longer alive, replaced by the one trying to get away from her past. I wondered if it would be enough for her to move on, knowing in my heart she'd never be the same again.

She impaled the knife in the sand and stood up, saying, "It's time to go, Matt."

I stood up and approached her. "Where are we going?" I asked.

"Wherever the hell we want," she answered, taking my hand and running away with me into the desert.

We ran far that night, eventually getting consumed by the darkness of the night.

A/N: Well that was the first six minutes and forty-five seconds of episode six, with a few minor additions on my part. This scene in particular really started my love for Sara as a character. Her determination to get to safety was both ruthless and effective. I really felt bad for her, something I almost never say about fictional characters. Next chapter will involve a certain monster encountered in the series, as well as the addition of another fan favorite from the show. I don't know when the next chapter should be up. It depends on my class schedule and some other writing projects I'm working on simultaneously with this. Until the next time, my friends.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: It turns out some of the subtitles don't reflect what the actual voice actors say, in both the English and Japanese versions, so I have to be extra careful now with trusting the subtitles. Not that I have to worry about that for this chapter, which focuses on part of the point in time in-between Sara's disappearance and subsequent reappearance. As always, thanks for the reviews and please let me know if there's anything wrong here.

Part V: Leap of Faith

Chapter 15

The desert was just as miserable as I'd imagined. I tried to convince Sara that we should only travel at night, since the temperature would be easier to manage for us to be out in. We were both malnourished and weak, but Sara was scared that they would come after us, so we kept on walking during the point in time when the blazing sun reached its apex of the day. I'd taken my shirt off and stripped it in two, giving Sara the other piece to use as a shield against the sun's rays. The more shade we had, the less likely we would lose important resources our body needed to keep us upright.

Water, however, was something we didn't have. The human body requires a very specific amount of it to help us be able to live out our lives, otherwise it breaks down on us and we end up dying. The last time we'd had any water was the night before, where we'd both drank from the bottle in the room of the man Sara had killed. I had a sneaking suspicion we wouldn't find vast quantities of the substance out in the middle of the harsh desert, so I was continually looking for areas that could support a supply. I've heard some stories of people going incredible lengths without the benefit of water for several days, but the vast majority of us would never be able to accomplish this feat. Some people are just hardier than others. The rest of us die one day after having no water.

The area we'd traveled through had started off with a couple of rock formations, but after that it was nothing but sand for miles around.

Sara and I didn't talk to each other for the longest time. Both of us were too busy dealing with our own problems to bring each other into them as well. When I wasn't out there trying to find water, I was imagining every time Sara had been raped, and my own failure at stopping it. She was doing the same thing, although she had the actual memory of the events in her mind.

Finally, around the end of the day, I saw some rocks jutting out of the ground a couple of miles ahead of us. Realizing the opportunities this posed, I pointed them out to Sara, who nodded and went toward them with me.

There was a chance, albeit a small one, that water was near them. If the rocks were near a part of a cave formation, then the possibility that the cave had water inside of it was high, and I was going to take that chance, otherwise we were as good as dead.

However, the closer we got to the rocks, I began to think I'd been wrong in my classification. Sure from a distance they looked like generic rocks, but when we kept on approaching them, they started to look suspiciously like a bunch of mushrooms. I have never once taken drugs in my life, but I'd heard from a couple people back home about the affects they had on the mind, especially when they were under periods of stress when they took whatever it was they were on. I started to get the feeling that maybe someone had slipped something into that bottle of water from earlier, because there was no way in hell I was looking at giant mushrooms.

"They're giant mushrooms," Sara said, letting out what I couldn't. If she was seeing them, than so was I.

We both paused, staring at them, and son of a gun if they weren't the real deal. Giant freaking mushrooms in the middle of the giant freaking desert. Those things were massive; I didn't even know it was possible for mushrooms to grow this large, but then again, maybe my old world had never allowed them the chance. As the sun was setting in the horizon, the mushrooms starting glowing in a vibrant blue color. Sara and I just stood there looking at them as the sun faded away into the night sky. They were so pretty, just so spectacular, that it almost made us forget everything was trying to kill us.

I felt something slithering against my leg, and I looked down, almost paralyzing myself with fear once I saw it. It was some tendril from what I assumed was some weird octopus-like creature that had adapted to live in the desert. I saw another brush up against Sara, who froze when she realized what it was.

Taking action, I brought my hand down on the tendril engulfing my right leg, and actually made the thing back off, despite my hardly doing anything of harm. Maybe it was just sensitive to pain. But before I could confirm that, the same tendril wrapped itself around Sara's waist and started dragging her away.

Racing after it, I dove in the sand and grabbed Sara's arms, bringing my foot behind one of the mushrooms, which allowed me to latch myself in place, and the thing and I fought for control of Sara's body. Struggling against it, I looked for anything I could use to help take her out of its grasp.

Near one of the other mushrooms was a corpse, wearing garments I'd never seen before; making me think whoever it had been wasn't from _Hellywood_. There was a pack lying beside it, as well as a weapon that looked like a combination between a knife and a boomerang. If I could get to that, then maybe I could cut off the tendrils before they took Sara away from me. The only problem with that idea was the fact that the weapon was several feet in the opposite direction of our position, and several tentacles were heading right over to Sara's body, in an effort to take her away again.

I looked Sara in the eye, letting her know what I had in mind. She resisted at first, but realized it was the only way.

I let go of her arms, allowing the creature to drag her away, as I sprung up and ran over to the weapon. I could hear Sara screaming behind me, and the sound dulled down my muscles, but I didn't allow my body to seize up and quit on me just yet. I had every intention to make sure that thing never touched her again. Grabbing the weapon, I leapt over to the area Sara was in now, getting a good look at our foe.

It wasn't an animal at all. It was a plant. A carnivorous plant, like those Venus Flytraps I'd heard about that lived in North and South Carolina. It was humongous in size, and sported hundreds of its tentacles in the air, just daring me to come and attack it while it tried to eat its prey.

I took the challenge and reached Sara just in time to slice off all of the tendrils that had grabbed her. Lifting her up with one arm, I helped her stand, and started to run off with her when I felt several of the tentacles grasping my body and forcing me to the ground. My chin hit the sand hard and the force of the impact made me lose control of the weapon, and I accidentally made it fly off back to the spot where I'd found it.

"Matt!" Sara cried out, saying my name for the first time since we'd fled into the desert.

She started running off to help me, but I said, "Stay back, Sara! I'm too close to it now! You'll get taken too!"

Sara stood in place, debating whether or not to listen to me, while I turned around to gage the distance between the plant monster and me. It was dragging me fast over the sands, burning my skin as it touched the already scorching ground. Then I remembered that I had a taser with me, and I reached for it, intending to shoot the plant before it could get to me, but I decided against it. Why? Because I was attached to the dang thing, if I'd been stupid enough to shoot it then, I would have electrocuted myself for sure, and the new designs would surely kill me. My heart could only take so much abuse these days.

So, I hatched a new plan in desperation. Using the taser as a blunt instrument, I slashed at the tendrils, cutting them all off of me. I quickly stood up and ran off to Sara, grabbing her and sprinting with all of my might in the opposite direction.

We got halfway through the mushroom forest when I heard the ground start to rumble, and I dared to take a glance back.

The sands were shifting around, causing a depression to form in the middle of the area affected by the changes. In the center of it all was this gigantic monstrosity that God had never intended to live on the Earth. It had multiple red tentacles waving around in the air, all just flaying around as if they could reach us from a football field's length away, and I began to think they actually could. The plant monster itself consisted of a body that looked like a pinecone, but purple in coloration. Little red colored sticklike figures were all around its head, if you could call it that. Honestly, I'd seen something like it before back in my world, and I couldn't help seeing the resemblance between the two as I saw this aberration rise from the desert sand. It looked like the creature that Jabba the Hutt had almost used to kill Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca. What was its name again? The Sarlacc, that's what it was.

I'd seen both versions of the film, and the special edition gave me nightmares, something Sara used to tease me about all the time, but I swear the film haunts me to this day. The creature was so horrifying; it made me regret watching the movie. That mouth it had, and its tentacles chilled me to the bone, even in the desert, as I recalled everything Lucas had done to ruin my dreams.

(You'll probably never have the grand pleasure of watching the films, so I'll explain them in more detail when I get a chance. Oh, that reminds me, I never got to see Episodes II and III. Dang it, Abelia, couldn't you have waited like six more years to come and take us away from home?)

Sorry about that, I should know better than to start off a rant mid-horror scene.

Ahem.

I stared at the monster, not paying attention to where I was going. Fear seized my body, and almost made me stop running, but adrenaline forced it out, and we managed to stay ahead of the creature.

But then it did the one thing the Sarlacc never could: It followed after us with its whole body. The crashes it made as it tumbled toward us almost made Sara lose her balance, but I steadied her and continued to run away with her.

The monster kept coming, warbling some misbegotten sound that makes me tense up and sweat now that I recall it. Creatures like this were never meant for this world. But there it was, chasing us down, ready for an evening snack.

I wondered if there was anything I could do to stop it from chasing after us. I tried to find a way to start a fire, since all plants hated fire, but there was nothing I could use in such short time to even make a spark.

Then it hit me: I still had the taser on hand. Maybe if I shot it the monster would think twice about attacking us. Before I rushed off to do it, I tried to remember if plants could conduct electricity, and if shooting it thousands of volts of electricity would even be effective against it. Plants held water in them, and could store massive amounts of it even if they lived in the desert. They had to; otherwise they'd wither away and die. That meant plants could conduct electricity, and that my plan would work. That was, if plants had maintained their features from my time.

Letting go of Sara's hand, I pushed her ahead of me and ran back.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Sara demanded.

"Hopefully saving our lives!" I sent back, not once looking at her.

I charged over to the beast and used the taser, which hit the monster mid-jump and caused it to fall down. I almost lost control of the taser, but made its extension come back to me as I watched the behemoth lose its balance. It slammed into the sand, while every now and then blue sparks would run over its body.

I'd done it. I'd forced it to quit chasing after us.

Or so I thought.

Several tendrils entered the air and zoomed toward me. Not believing my eyes, I hightailed it out of there, the tentacles barely missing my leg by nanometers. I made it to Sara and took her hand, gliding over the sands, hoping the monster wouldn't follow after us and the attack was a desperation move.

We made it several yards before it started. I'd felt the warning signs all during the fight, but had ignored them. However, it would no longer be denied, and it stopped me from moving, forcing me on the ground in agony.

Sara watched me fall and screamed, "Matt!"

I barely registered her voice, instead clutching my heart. I dropped the taser when I fell, and it landed right next to me, but I wasn't focused on that. Tensing up, I coughed up my lungs, accidentally bringing in some sand to my mouth.

Sara bent down and checked me over, trying to find my pills, but they weren't there. Sometime in-between the moment when I'd collapsed on the ground and the first assault of the monster I'd lost them.

"No, where the hell are they?" Sara asked. "They've got to be here! Come on!"

She frisked me, failing to find them. I heard the disappointed sigh as she slumped down next to me.

"I'm such a failure," Sara said, crying.

I reached my hand over to hers, still using the other one to clutch my chest. "No, Sara," I said. "You…can't say that. My fault. I'm…failure."

"But I'm letting you die, Matt! I can't save you!"

"Even…if I do…don't give up…Sara. You're…strong. So strong. You'll…figure things out."

My hand fell from hers and I blacked out.

Now, normally I'd quit talking and head off to the point where I wake up again, but I'm going to do something a little different now. I'm going to tell this from Sara's perspective, but with narration still provided by yours truly, natch.

When Sara saw me lose consciousness, she panicked, sobbing over my body, as she thought I was dead, but then she moved her head over to my heart, which was still beating. Knowing I was still alive, Sara wondered what she could do to keep it that way. Desperately searching her surroundings for my pills, Sara stood up and left my body behind, looking frantically for them.

_Please don't let him die, _she thought, begging God to give me another chance. _I can't lose him. Not after what's happened. He's all I have left. _

Looking at the point where we'd fallen down, Sara failed to see the pill container, so she dared to look over the dune to where the plant monster was.

Sara knew it was crazy. There was a high percentage chance that she was going to end up getting attacked by it again. She shivered as she recalled the way it had wrapped around her, and continued to do so when she deluded herself into thinking that it was her fault I was in the condition I had fallen into. If she'd been quicker, if she hadn't been so tired, if she'd fought back, and if maybe she'd let go of my hand when I tried to pull her back to me, then I never would've been hurt, let alone being in danger of dying.

It seemed I wasn't the only one who was blaming myself for things outside of my control.

Sara reached the top of the dune and peered over it, finding the gargantuan plant lying still several hundred yards away from her. Her keen eyes spotted my pill container a couple of yards away from the monster, with just enough range to stay out of its reach if she were careful. She looked back down at me and made a split-second decision to run out and grab them.

She regretted the fact that she didn't have more appropriate clothing for the feat, but she had made her decision the night before to get rid of them, and she would stick by that decision. She thought of the way I had tried to stop her from what I thought was an attempt to kill herself and knew I had misinterpreted the gesture because of the way she'd been acting. Sara had already forgiven me for the decision, because she knew that I was only doing it because I cared, but she couldn't say it out loud. Not yet.

_I'm so sorry, Matt, _Sara thought. _I have to figure out myself before I can do that. I can't deal with…with what happened yet. I just can't._

Which is a perfectly acceptable thought to have considering the circumstances. I could understand her reasoning completely. The traumatic experiences she went through can't be put into words, not without running the risk of gratuitousness, which is not what I want to happen. Those monsters had changed her and Sara would never be the same.

Finding my pill container, Sara dove for it and picked it up, hurrying back to me, but she felt the sand rumble beneath her feet and turned around to find the monster as it regained its composure. Hundreds of tendrils forced their way over to her, making Sara run faster than she'd ever had to run in her life. However, one tentacle latched itself at the right side of her nightgown, but it only managed to tear off a piece of it, leaving Sara safely intact. Jetting up the dune, Sara reached me and opened the container, taking out two pills for my use.

Ever since she'd known me, Sara had been trained to act as a surrogate deliverer of my medicine should I be unable to do so. We had practiced many times, in fact, more than I wanted to admit. It wasn't exactly the most romantic thing a boyfriend could ask his girlfriend to do, but she was very serious about my safety, and wanted to be prepared should the decision fall on her to give them to me.

Placing the pills in my mouth, Sara figured out the uselessness of the idea when they just stayed there, my mouth almost devoid of moisture and my body inert.

"Oh no!" she shouted, wondering what she could do next.

_Think, Sara, think, _Sara begged herself. _What can you do? He needs water and there isn't any in sight. That thing's still out there. Hurry up!_

Then it dawned on her. It would work, but then she would have to force the pills down my throat after she was finished, but it was worth it if it worked. Gathering all the saliva in her mouth, Sara forced open my mouth and deposited all she'd gathered into it, and then repeated the process.

Finally, once she'd gathered enough, Sara tilted my head back, enacting a simple procedure every human has: The gag reflex. It caused me to momentarily come to my senses, which Sara used to make me force the pills down my throat, allowing them to their job. I quickly fell back down and blacked out again, but Sara had done enough to allow me the chance for me to keep living.

Sighing over a job well done, Sara let her head down to rest on my chest, where she happily listened to my heart beating. She silently let out her thanks at whoever had allowed her the chance to save me, but felt another rumble in the sand and then looked up, finding the monster trying to travel over the dune.

Eyes widening, Sara tried to figure out what to do, but then refused to listen to her thoughts, knowing there was no time. Lifting my body in her arms, she picked me up and started to run away once again.

Sara barely weighed over a hundred pounds, if even that, and lugging me around wasn't a good idea for her much smaller frame. I usually maintained a respectable weight of one-fifty, but I had lost about ten pounds since we'd come to _Hellywood_, and Sara had lost more than I had. How she picked me up I will never know. All I do know is that she saved my life. I owe everything to her.

The plant monster roared in the background, feeding her adrenaline spike, while I remained blissfully unaware of the danger to my life.

Soon enough, though, Sara had run far enough away out of the monster's reach to slow down, but she didn't, simply running on impetuousness. How far she did run, she can't tell me, because she wasn't paying attention to where she was going.

Finally, after a long period of time, her arms finally gave out on her and she then dropped me on the ground, following suit a half-second later. Her vision fuzzy, Sara took the time to locate my right hand and reached for it with her left. Grasping it, Sara then lost consciousness, and leaving us without any protection in the desert night.

* * *

I don't know how long it took for me to wake back up, but all I knew was that I was beneath a fine layer of sand. I had no bearing of my position, and felt someone's hand touching mine. I instinctively knew it was Sara's, but there was nothing I could do to see it for real: We were both stuck.

I started fading in and out of consciousness again, barely feeling the firm hand that grasped both Sara's hand and my own out of the sand. I barely felt the hand feel my own for a pulse. I didn't know what was going on, but I had a feeling someone was saving us from death.

Those hands belonged to one of the greatest saviors I have ever had the pleasure of knowing in this life.

A/N: Well I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapters will bring a name to the person who saved Matt and Sara, but fans of the show will already know whom it is. The next chapter should come sometime next week, as I'm going home to grab some things I need for college for the weekend, and I probably won't have anytime to write. No guarantees, though. Until next time.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Well, it turned out I was right. I've just now had some time to work on this. Review when you have a chance please. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 16

I thought I was awake, but I wasn't. The world my eyes witnessed couldn't be the world I was living in.

San Diego stretched around me, allowing me to notice its eccentric populace, its lively streets, and its lukewarm constant temperature. The buildings were all the same, and the signs exactly as I remembered. I was in San Diego again. My home.

_How did I get here? _I asked, as I tried to recall what had happened to me. _There was a…desert? There were soldiers, I think. Was I at war?_

"Hey, Matt, come on or you'll be late for our date!" Sara called out in front of me, letting me notice her for the first time.

I gazed in her direction and found a vibrant and smiling Sara looking back at me. This bothered me for some reason. When was the last time I'd seen her so chipper? Why was I even asking a stupid question like that? I was back home, right?

"Come on, slowpoke!" Sara shouted at me, laughing as she skipped ahead of me.

"I'm coming!" I sent back, as I tried to catch up with her.

I got close to Sara and tried to hold her hand, but it disappeared, along with the rest of her body. Dumbfounded, I looked around for her, finding her a block ahead of me, just waving at me.

"I'm over here, Matt!" she shouted. "Come and catch me if you can!"

As I ran over to her again, I thought of a time that reminded me of this one. It had been our third date and we were both walking over to the beach to catch a concert. Sara had kept running faster than me, always trying to get me to catch up with her, because she didn't want to be late, neither of us thinking through my condition. I'd almost had a heart attack, and she'd blamed herself for making it happen, and had tried to break up with me, since all she did—she said—was cause me trouble. I'd managed to convince her to stop thinking that way, and to stay with me.

Why was I thinking about that? Was this a dream?

The world around me shifted. San Diego was notorious for its sunny days and constant maintaining of a temperature no larger than seventy-five degrees. Anything else that happened was an aberration, just like what I saw. The skies swirled away into one giant black monstrosity that filled the air with static electricity, which was soon aided by the presence of actual lightning.

Frantically, I searched the area for Sara, finding her nowhere.

"Sara!" I called out. "Where are you?"

I heard Sara scream several blocks ahead of me and I raced after the sound of her voice, hoping she wasn't in danger. Finally, after nearly exhausting myself from the run, I found Sara in an alleyway with a man covered by a mask. She had been stripped of the majority of her clothing, and I felt bad looking at her, but I knew common decency had to be overridden by common sense. The man crept closer to Sara, making several threats to kill her if she screamed again.

"I'm here to have a little fun with you, babe," he declared. "I took off most of your clothes, so now it's time to finish up."

"Stay the hell away from her!" I yelled as I charged the man with the mask.

I leapt at him, ready to get him as far away from Sara as possible, but he dodged my move with speed that defied human ability. Then he jumped into the air, bouncing from building to building, laughing at me all the while. I went over to Sara, making sure to keep him within my sight, and tried to give her my coat to cover her, but she shrieked.

Looking up, I found the man with the mask dive-bombing towards us, and I raised my fists to defend myself. He landed a blow to my chest as I delivered one to his face, forcing the both of us to fall down to the ground. I clutched my chest, expecting to find it about to explode, but surprisingly my heart seemed fitter than it had in two years. I stood up and clenched my fists, ready for the man's next assault.

He, meanwhile, had fallen into a pile of garbage nearby and was just now getting back up. Cracking his neck, he smirked at me—the mask had been crafted in a way that allowed him to reveal his mouth—and charged, kicking my leg with his as I misjudged his distance from me and missed him by a few inches.

I vaguely heard Sara stand up and start to back away.

_Good, _I thought. _She can get some help and be safe._

"Oh, you can't leave yet, my pretty," the man with the mask said, twirling his fingers in the air, and taking control of Sara's body.

"What are you doing to her?" I asked, horrified.

The man twisted Sara around in a macabre salsa dance, controlling each action her body made. "I'm the only one who can control you, baby," he said, cackling as he did so. "You're mine. Always and only mine."

"Like hell she is," I said, punching the man in the face, accidentally throwing off his mask as I did so.

He shielded his face from my sight, trying to avoid revealing it to me, but I fell down on him and forced his arms away, allowing me to see who he was.

Me.

I stumbled backward, looking at his body…my body, terrified at what I saw. He stood up and laughed at me.

"She's ours, Matthew," the other me said, cackling. "We are the ones who have raped her. Sara is ours and ours only. Take her. Please her. Make her ours."

"What?" I repeated, trying to figure out what was going on. "Why would I do that to her? I'd never treat her like that."

"Because she's ours, Matthew. Only ours. No other man may touch her from now on. She belongs to us."

"Sara doesn't belong to me! She's a person! She's not some piece of property to me! Why do you look like me? Why are you saying all these things about Sara? I can't possibly think like that at—!"

"You just don't get it, do you, poor baby?" the other me asked, shaking his head. "I am you."

"What?" I asked, eyes opening wider.

He smiled at me. "These aren't my thoughts: They're yours, Matthew."

"You're lying! I would never think anything like that about Sara!"

"Nevertheless, they are yours. 'I can't let them have her. She's my girlfriend. I want her.' Perhaps diluted a bit, but they are your thoughts."

"I would never—" I started to say, but I felt hands on me. Hands that weren't in the place I was in.

It was then that I realized I'd been having a dream the whole time.

* * *

"Sara!" I shouted, rising up from the futon-like device underneath me.

Several childlike voices squealed at my sudden movement and shouts, alerting me to the presence of several kids near me. I instinctively grabbed the nearest one to me, a small girl with black hair, and held her close, thinking she was involved with _Hellywood_, the only people who could've found me in the desert.

"Where's Sara?" I demanded, raising a threatening, um, finger to the girl's throat.

Yeah, not exactly the most planned out idea, but I was dealing with children, so it really didn't matter. They were horrified at the development and shouted out for help from someone named, "Sis! Sis! Help us, Sis! He's got Soon!"

I heard the noise of a chair moving back from an area that was obviously below me. I grabbed the girl, now known as Soon, closer to my body. "Where is Sara?" I asked once more.

I could hear someone coming up the stairs, and froze when I saw a heavyset woman holding a rifle came inside the room. I automatically let go of Soon and covered my eyes. I thought I was going to die in that room, surrounded by soldiers, killed by a woman I didn't know, and not even figure out where Sara was. I couldn't think of a worse way for me to die.

Luckily I didn't.

"Please don't hurt me," I said, whimpering. "You've hurt me enough. Just take me back to King Hamdo and I'll take my punishment."

"Hamdo?" the woman repeated. "Where do you think you are, you idiot?"

I opened my eyes and stared at her. She was, like I noted earlier, a bit on the heavy side, but made up for it by being slightly taller than me. She had black hair and imposing eyes that bore right into me.

"This…isn't _Hellywood_?" I asked, unbelieving. I shook my head, trying to figure out what was going on. "Sara and I ran away. We were in the desert. I passed out and she did…what did she do? Why aren't we in the desert anymore?"

The woman lowered her rifle and gave a sigh of relief. "Oh, Matthew, you had me worried there for a moment."

I jumped out in response to my own name. How had she gained that knowledge? Had I spoken in my sleep?

"You're in Zari-Bars, Matthew," the woman explained. "My name is Sis. I found Sara and you in the desert and brought you here to safety. Sara's downstairs, and actually eating something for once. She told me all about what happened to you two back…back there. Except for right now, Sara hasn't left your side."

I blinked twice, trying to absorb all the information the woman named Sis had just given me. Zari-Bars. Where had I heard that name before?

My thoughts were interrupted when Sara came through the door and saw me up and about. "Matt!" she exclaimed, running over to me and hugging me fiercely. I did the same for her. "I was starting to think that…you weren't going to wake up. Oh, Matt, this is all my fault. If I'd just listened to you, then this never would've happened to you. We should have stayed there."

I pushed her away to look her in the eye, shaking my head. "Not this again, Sara," I said. "I made a mistake. Maybe if we'd left sooner, than nothing would've happened to you."

She started to cry, and I followed suit. We held each other closer, completely forgetting we weren't alone in the room.

"If you're hungry, you can come downstairs," Sis announced, shooing the kids out of the room.

Alerted again to Sis's presence, I grew red, but still held on to Sara, who had just finished crying. I started to say something, but then I thought of the dream, and wondered if maybe it was true. Was I really that bad of a person? Could I have those thoughts about Sara? Did I deserve to even be near her when I had these doubts?

"What's wrong, Matt?" Sara asked, pushing away from me to see my face. Her eyes were red, and I suppose mine must have looked similar.

"It's…It's nothing," I said, grabbing her arms and picking her up with me. "Let's go get something to eat, Sara. I want to know what's going on here. How long have we been here?"

I led her down the stairs, holding her hand.

"Three days," Sara said. "I woke up yesterday. We were both so dehydrated, but Sis saved us. She picked us up out of the sand and brought us here to Zari-Bars."

_Wait a second, _I thought, half paying attention to her. _Didn't Hamdo mention a place called Zari-Bars? Didn't he want to invade it?_

"Matt?" Sara asked, looking at me. "Are you even listening to me?"

"Huh?" I said, pulled away from my thoughts. "Sorry, Sara, but I was thinking about something. What were you saying?"

She sighed. "Nothing."

Sara came down the stairs first and left my side, heading to one side of the room, while I looked around the room, seeing more children than I could count staring back at me. One of them cowered when my gaze fell upon her and I recognized the girl I'd used to try and find out information: Soon.

I took a deep breath and walked over to Soon, bending down on one knee beside her, as I said, "Hi, my name's Matt. I'm sorry for what I did to you…it's just I was scared of you. I…It's been a long time since I've seen a kid who wasn't trying to hurt me. I hope I didn't hurt you. I'm really sorry, Soon."

Soon eyed me for a moment, slowly releasing her fear, which culminated into a smile. "It's okay," she said. "I forgive you."

I smiled back at her. I wondered when the last time that I had smiled and felt so happy had been.

"That was very sweet of you, Soon," Sis said from across the table the children were all around. "Now, Matt, would you mind coming here for a moment?"

"Okay," I said, walking over to her.

"Please, take a seat."

"Oh, thanks, ma'am."

I sat down, looking at the food in front of me. It looked so appetizing. It felt like my stomach hadn't taken in food in weeks. But then the blow to the back of my head broke my excitement over being fed. Rubbing the area that hurt most, I turned around to see Sis looking back at me, while shaking her head.

"I don't like to hit my children," Sis explained, "but when one of them tries to hurt another, I smack them across the back of the head in order to instill discipline. Don't make me do it again, am I understood?"

I nodded, smiling. Despite the fact that I'd just been whacked with a sucker punch from a woman I didn't know, I couldn't help but feel happy around her. I couldn't help but feel like my own mother was reprimanding me. I haven't seen in her in so long.

Sis left my side and sat down next to Sara, who was playing with her food. I frowned, noticing the sudden mood swing on Sara's part. One moment she had been overjoyed to find me stable, but the next she was depressed as could be. I wondered what could be wrong with her…well, despite the obvious.

"Would you like to tell him all that happened, or should I, Sara?" Sis asked, trying to liven her up, but if failed.

Sara shook her head, still playing with her food.

Sis sighed and looked over to me; for some reason I straightened myself up, in an effort to make myself more presentable. Sis has that effect on people.

"Three days ago I was in the desert looking for supplies when I saw what looked like a hand buried underneath the sand in the distance," Sis said. "I investigated it and pulled Sara up first, followed closely by you, since you wouldn't let go of her, even when the majority of your body was limp from exhaustion. I checked your pulses and carried you back to my caravan, in order to bring you here and nurse you back to health. You are quite the stubborn fighter, Matt. A normal man would have died, heart condition or not."

"You know about that?" I asked, looking at Sara, who merely nodded to answer my unspoken question about her involvement in the knowledge exchange, but Sara didn't fully look at me.

"Yes I do, and I must say I'm impressed you've made it this far. This world isn't designed for people in your physical condition. Well, to tell the truth, it's not really built for anyone…not like it used to be."

That piqued my interest. "You know what the old world looked like? Just how recently did—?"

Sis shook her head, crushing my hopes. "Nothing but the stories that have been carried down from generation to generation. I know no more about the world before the Cataclysms than anyone else, besides the Disciples that is, but they're a secretive group. You should know all about that." She pointed at the cross that hung around my neck.

I looked down at it and frowned. I wondered why it was still there, or why I even cared anymore. "Um, I'm not a Disciple, I don't think," I said. "I've never even met any of them. This is from my world."

By this time the children had left the room and were all around, making noise and playing around with each other. I think I counted around eleven, but the little scamps kept running all over the place and messing up my abysmal career as a census taker.

"Oh, then please forgive me for assuming too much about you, Matt," Sis said. "My people have had dealings with the Disciples, and their originators for years."

"Your people?" I repeated, puzzled.

"It has been a long time since I lived around any of them, but I was once a part of the _Ger Toshav_."

I accidentally allowed the food I was trying to eat fall out of the wooden fork in my hand. "What did you say your people's name was?"

"We are the _Ger Toshav_," Sis repeated. "Why, do you know what it means?"

In fact I did, and I was a bit taken aback when I realized she was serious. The term _Ger Toshav_ was a term that referred to people of Gentile descent, but who lived in the old kingdom of Israel amongst the Hebraic population. They were normally people who wanted to live in harmony with their Jewish neighbors and agreed to take part in certain ceremonies that gave them the same amount of respects that Hebrews had among one another. Did that mean that Sis was a Gentile who was seeking to become a part of the…what exactly was this place? Israel?

"You're from Israel?" I asked, knowing the possibilities of one nation being able to survive seven different forms of the apocalypse was highly unlikely.

"No," Sis said, sighing. "No one's from that wondrous place anymore. We lost that right many years ago."

"I don't follow."

"My people are all that is left from the country you call Israel. None of us know where our old home was, or how long ago we lost it, so we no longer go by the names we used to hold. We are _Ger Toshav_ now, taking on the customs of any nation that allows our people refuge, just like we used to do years ago to anyone who lived in our own."

That made sense, in a twisted way. What it had to do with anything, I didn't know yet, but the answers would come soon enough.

"So, what do you do here?" I asked, trying to drag the conversation away from the obviously sore subject.

"You are very kind, Matt," Sis said, smiling. "It's not often I meet someone so willing to be genuinely nice these days. What do I do here, you ask? Mostly I find people like you two and get you adjusted to life outside of that terrible place. The majority of the children here are either former soldiers who escaped, or the orphans of families who were taken away or killed by Hamdo."

Sara tensed up, dropping her wooden fork. "I'm…I'm sorry," she said, picking it up off the floor. "I'm…just tired."

Sis checked her over, noting the obvious lie, but ignored it nonetheless. "You two aren't from this world, this much Sara has told me, but why were you taken away from home? Is Hamdo seeking soldiers from the past to bolster his ranks?"

I shook my head, debating whether or not to tell the truth. I looked at Sara, who wasn't in the mood to bring up the subject, so I decided for us. "Abelia mistook Sara for Lala-Ru, who had fled to our time," I explained. "If…If you look at the two of them, then I can see why she made the mistake. There are certain…characteristics that are similar."

Sara glared at me, and I knew it was probably a good idea to switch back to the actual story.

"Anyways, Sara and me were about to go pick up her father when they came and I tried to stop them, but they brought us both back with them. They were almost going to kill me, but I…I made a…"

"A what?" Sis asked.

I paused, wondering what she would do when I told the truth. Would Sis kick us out of the house because of my actions? Was I just another no-good Hamdo supporter because of what I'd done?

"Sis, how long can we stay here?" I asked, changing subjects once more.

Taken aback, Sis took a while to answer. "As long as you'd like, Matt. Why?"

"You wouldn't kick us out, even if one of us had done something horrible?"

"No, there is nothing that could make me kick you out of here."

I gulped, knowing it was time to dive into the pool. "I told Hamdo that I would, in exchange for Sara's freedom, help him out by designing war machines and weapons for him. He agreed to the last part, but kept Sara as collateral."

I closed my eyes, knowing she'd kick us out that very instant, but, instead, a few moments later, I felt Sis hugging me, making me open my eyes.

"You poor child," Sis said, shedding a tear, as she looked me in the eye. "Oh, you poor children. No, you poor adults."

Breaking off the embrace, Sis shook her head; her face showing me her sorrow for us was sincere.

"That's not the worst part," I said.

"I know, you don't have to say it," Sis said, holding up her hand. "Sara has told me enough. You two have nothing to worry about anymore. I am going to keep you both safe from Hamdo. That vile, worthless man."

I smiled at her, enjoying the honesty I could feel in her voice. It had been a very long time since there had been another voice I could trust beside Sara's. It was refreshing to the mind.

Sara, meanwhile, looked at Sis and me and seemed to show signs of brightening up. I motioned for her to come over and she listened, slowly gliding over to the seat right beside mine. I held her hands and continued to smile at her, eliciting a half-grin, which was better than nothing in my book.

"Now, however, there is the matter of work for you to do," Sis said, bringing us both back to reality.

"Work?" Sara repeated. "What work?"

"What, did you think I'd let you freeload here? Oh, no, you two are going to pay for your rent."

"How so?" I asked, wondering if it were something my heart would prevent from happening.

"Oh, just daily chores: Fetching the water from the cave, watching over the fields, cleaning around the house, you know, the usual things. I must warn you however, that I am a much more ruthless taskmaster than Hamdo could ever be."

It was a joke. I used to tell those all the time. I laughed, glad to have this feeling back again. As Sis explained our new duties in more detail, I began to think of what had gone on there. Maybe I could spend the rest of my days like this, just feeling happy and carefree all the time. Maybe my life could no longer experience the pain it had known the past few months.

For that moment in time it would.

But it was an ephemeral moment.

A/N: The next chapter will feature the last character to get directly named in the series, and how Matt deals with his or her demands. Until next time.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Finally got around to having time for this chapter. You know the drill: Please let me know if there's anything I need to know about. Thanks.

Chapter 17

The adjustment was…odd. I can't think of another word to use to describe the sudden change from getting beaten up every other day to living in tranquility, with nary a problem in the world. It was so enlightening, so peaceful.

I enjoyed every moment of it, as much as someone in my mental state could. Sis was quite possibly the nicest woman I've ever known. Strict as could be, but just so nice too. I kept getting this weird feeling of calm whenever I was around her. It was like all the stuff that had happened at _Hellywood_ was just some bad dream I'd finally woken up from.

The nation of Zari-Bars was a quiet little place, so devoid of the worries of war, since it was hidden in a valley, one that would look like any other valley if spotted from above. The people all lived in caves, most of them carved out through the rock in order to help their growing population find more space. Sis lived near the center of the village, but her crops lay near the outskirts.

It was a funny thing seeing vegetation that wasn't grown inside of _Hellywood_. No, these were crafted on the outside, even in the unforgiving sun of this new earth. It was an amazing feeling to see such life grow even through all the devastation.

Sis had over twelve kids living with her—Sara and myself excluded—but the real number seemed to keep changing every other day, as if these kids were just appearing out of nowhere. Most of us worked in the fields, preparing the crops we would use to cook our meals later in the day. There were two servings of food, rather than three, like we used to do back home: One in the morning to give energy, and one in the evening to make up for energy lost during the day. It was an efficient system, and I actually started to lose weight at a respectable amount. I was much fitter than I'd ever been back home, and it felt great. I was growing stronger, my muscles adapting to all the work I'd had to endure in both of my new homes. Sara showed a little development in the muscles as well, but hers were less pronounced than mine.

The nation of Zari-Bars was actually a little loose on the word "nation." It was, in actuality, a glorified village, compared to the nations I was used to. It was completely and utterly dwarfed by everyone I could remember, save one. I guess the only way I could possibly make that make sense is to describe Zari-Bars as like the Vatican City, in that it was small, but ultimately dwarfed by other nations—well, in this case, just one country—that surrounded it.

Wait a second…you won't even know what the Vatican is. Dang it, why do I keep doing these things? I should know better by now.

Anyways you could say that Zari-Bars was paradise, if such a thing could exist on a world that supported individuals like Hamdo. It was an oasis in a desert filled with the most despicable creatures, all of which wanted to either eat you alive, or wait for your corpse to slowly decompose in the wasteland. Water was held in some of the deep caves, where the sun couldn't reach it, thus sparing it from excessive evaporation.

However, like all paradises, it had its Serpent as well.

I first fought the Serpent one day out in the fields. Sara and I were working with some of the other children, trying to make sure our grains were growing properly. In all my time before this change in my life, I'd never once thought I'd end up being or having knowledge about being a farmer. I was rich, so stuff like this was unheard of for someone like me. Not that I'm trying to act like a snob, because I was far from it, I'm just trying to tell you how much of a change this was for me. It was so odd, odder then _Hellywood_.

While wiping the sweat from my forehead, I saw a burly man and two equally large men walking behind him coming my way. I could see the way he was staring at me that he wanted to talk, and most likely for something I didn't want to divulge. My inner warning systems told me to get Sara away from him, so I moved in front of her, causing her to notice him for the first time, and she defensively gripped the shovel in her hands tighter. The man saw her reflexive move and halted, raising his right hand to stop the men behind him.

"You the new kids?" he asked.

"Maybe," I said. "Depends on who's asking."

He grunted. "I'm Elamba. Now tell me who you are."

I didn't like his tone. He pissed me off in ways I can't even describe. "Name's Matt."

I looked over at Sara, letting her know it was okay to speak up. "Sara," she said, simply.

"Well, so you are the two are got away from Hamdo," Elamba said.

"What difference does it make where we came from!" Sara shouted suddenly. "It doesn't, so mind your own business!"

Elamba's face stiffened up. I could tell that he wasn't used to being shouted at, or being denied what he wanted.

He was going to attack us; I could see it in his eyes. Taking a step back, I gathered my strength and pushed him over before he could react. Elamba fell into his other friend, and the other tried to catch them, but ended up on the ground with him. I couldn't believe my luck. Somehow I'd taken them all out in the matter of a couple seconds.

But then my luck almost ran out. Elamba got up first and charged me, grabbing me when I pushed Sara out of the way. She managed to maintain her balance, shouting out my name in the meantime. I knew why she was so worried. It wasn't the fact that I was going to get beaten up by a far stronger man: It was the strain my heart would go through when he did it. I doubted I'd be able to live much longer if I kept up like this.

I fought on, though, jamming my fist into Elamba's neck, causing him to lose his breath for a moment, giving me some respite to get out from underneath him and grab Sara, who had almost been grabbed by one of the other men. The other children cheered us on, chanting, "Beat him up, Matt! Beat him up!"

However, just as I'd thought Sara and me were in the clear, Elamba grasped the back of my hair—which had grown much longer than I'd cared for—and pulled me back. Gagging, I tried to get out of it, but his grip just tightened. Luckily for me, though, a hand pulled Elamba away from me and brought him before its owner.

"What is the meaning of this?" Sis's voice shouted as I picked myself off of the ground. "Why are you attacking my children?"

I calmed my body down, glad that my heart didn't seem to be noticing the sudden shift in energy usage. Sara stood beside me and dusted me off, while we checked each other for injuries, thankfully finding none.

"I didn't start this!" Elamba yelled, pointing at me. "He jumped me first!"

(Which was true, but there's a reason they add the word "pre" before preemptive strike, moron.)

Sis looked at me and I nodded. "Well no wonder he did it, you idiot!" Sis yelled back at Elamba. "Don't you know what these two have been through these past few weeks? Are you that dense, Elamba? You know as much as I how _Hellywood_ tortures all who enter it! He jumped you because you looked like you were going to hurt Sara and him! Haven't they suffered enough without you reminding them of all their troubles?"

Elamba pushed himself away from Sis, glaring at her. "So? Why the hell should I care what they went through? All I care about is what they can tell me about _Hellywood_! The more we know, the better we can defend ourselves!"

Sis grunted, showing anger I'd only seen in her when I'd threatened Soon's life. It was the look a wild mother bear gave any predator dumb enough to seek out her cub. "I am going to tell you this one time, and one time only, Elamba," Sis said. "You are to stay away from my children and never bother them with this useless war of yours again. You may think you're in charge here, but that will never happen, not so long as I live."

"Then maybe I should just get rid of you."

I clenched my fists, ready to strike again, but both Sara—who grabbed me and kept me with her, knowing full well what stupid thing I was about to do—and Sis—who held up her hand to stop me—prevented me from attacking. I calmed down again, trying to think about something else besides wringing Elamba's neck. It was really hard not to.

"But until that day comes, Elamba, you will remember that the people here do not take kindly to warmongers or imbeciles," Sis reminded him. "I will give you fair warning once more: Stay away from my children."

Elamba grunted, looking at Sara and me, and I glared at him, one hand holding Sara behind me. Huffing, Elamba said, "Come on, guys, we'll finish this later."

They walked away, leaving us mercifully alone. The moment they were out of sight I allowed myself to fall on the ground, my anxiety over. "Phew," I let out.

"That was much too close," Sis remarked, looking at Sara and me. "Matt, I can't blame you for the way you acted, but you must know that men like Elamba here in Zari-Bars are as dangerous as Hamdo was in _Hellywood_. You would protect Sara and yourself better if you never confronted him again."

"Yes, ma'am," I said, allowing Sara to pick me back up.

I looked at Sara, who was obviously not in the mood to talk. Her tiny breakdown at Elamba's interrogation told me she was far from being ready to speak about what had happened to her. I frowned, knowing the sooner we had a chance to do it, the more likely her overall demeanor would improve, or so I thought.

"Why is he like that?" I asked.

Sis sighed, sitting down on a nearby rock. "Elamba used to have a little sister."

"Used to have?"

"Their home was overrun by _Hellywood_, and his sister was taken, but he was able to escape. He tracked them down, trying to find his sister, which he eventually did…after the soldiers had left her behind."

"But why would they do that?"

"His sister was always such a sickly child, and the strain of leaving home and going to _Hellywood_ was too much for her, and she died. Elamba has had it in for Hamdo ever since that day. Unfortunately this clouds his judgment, and makes him seek out trouble when none should exist. I don't pretend to think we're always safe here, but all he wants is to kill a threat that hasn't bothered us yet."

She gazed over at a nearby boulder, where Soon was sitting on, just staring out into the desert. She did that all day, for reasons beyond my comprehension.

"Elamba should remember that Hamdo hasn't only hurt him," Sis said, still gazing at Soon. "And that his own actions led to the death of good men who listened to his every word, leaving their children behind when they went to assassinate Hamdo."

My eyes widened. So the assassins had come from Zari-Bars. Then that also meant that…

I looked at Soon, tearing up. "Her father was one of the ones they sent, wasn't he?"

Sis nodded solemnly. "She goes there everyday, waiting for him to come back. I have allowed her to do it, hoping she'll eventually come to terms with his death, but she hasn't figured it out yet. There are signs she knows, but…Soon keeps waiting for him."

"That's so sad," Sara said, staring at Soon intently.

"Yes, but enough about that, I have a new job for you two."

"What is it?" I asked, intrigued.

"Your pills from _Hellywood_ are running low, correct?"

I nodded.

"You say that they were synthesized by some flowers Hamdo owned in his garden in _Hellywood_?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Sis nodded. "There are some similar plants near Zari-Bars, but they are very far away from here. It will take several days' journey to and from this hidden garden, and it will be very tiring, but I can't go there myself right now, because of the children. If you want to stay alive, Matt, I'd suggest you go there and bring them back. Our village medic would be happy to supply you with medication he can make from them."

"How do I get there?"

Sis took out a piece of parchment from her pockets, handing it to me. "Follow this and you'll get there quickly. I already have some bags packed for you, as well as enough food and water to last you two weeks at best. It shouldn't take that long."

She pointed over to the side, where two backpacks were laying, obviously having been dropped when she'd seen the fight between Elamba and me.

"But there's two of them," I said. "I thought I was going alone?"

Sara came over to my side and shook her head. "Don't be stupid, Matt," she said. "What if you have an attack and can't get to your medicine in time? Who's going to give it to you if you're alone?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but realized logic had just overruled anything I could possibly say. Accepting the new development, I said, "Thanks, Sis. I'm not trying to be depressing or morbid here, but if we don't make it back, I just want to let you know how grateful I am for your help and that it's great to know there's still someone out there in this world who really cares about other people."

Sis smiled. "Thank you, Matt, but it's time for you two to leave. Now go ahead and leave before you decide to stay forever. Besides, it will give you some time to avoid Elamba."

Sara and I smiled at her, each of us taking a different backpack and heading off into the outskirts of Zari-Bars, not knowing about the crisis we were about to face.

A/N: Expect the world of _Now and Then, Here and There_ to get fleshed out some more next chapter, with some explanations all over the place as to why the world has changed so much, as well as a crisis of faith for Matt. Until next time, everyone, which will be probably be sometime before the end of the week.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: Hello, everyone. I had some trouble getting this on the site, but it seems that whatever the problem was is gone, so here it is. As per usual, please let me know of anything that requires my attention. Thanks in advance.

Chapter 18

I despise the word awkward, and all that it represents. It's one of those words that you wish never existed in the first place.

It's also the one word that I'd use to describe the trip Sara and I took to find these flowers for me.

We didn't talk; how could we? We hadn't talked that much even when there had been plenty of opportunities at our new home. The most we'd said to each other were the simple things, like, 'Watch out, there's a hole there' or 'Sis says it's time to eat.'

(The time Elamba had confronted us had been an exception to this. That had been the result of simple necessity.)

It was driving me insane. I wanted so desperately to talk to Sara about what had happened to us, but I couldn't…not until I had some questions answered. Questions that dealt with why we'd been punished like this and why a supposedly generous being seemed to have neglected us.

I didn't know how to get my answers, though. I tried praying—the first time I'd done so in a month—but all they seemed to do was make me mad, because it just felt like I was talking to myself. It seemed like maybe there wasn't anyone to answer them in the first place. Maybe God had died when the world did or maybe he'd given up on us a long time ago and was just letting us live out the rest of our lives in misery. I didn't know the answers…but I wanted to. I needed to.

I'd asked Sis a couple of days before about the people that Hamdo, Nabuca, and she had all mentioned, the Disciples. I'd wondered if they were anywhere near, because it seemed they were the only ones who properly understood what was going on. Maybe if I contacted them, they could help me out with my questions. However, Sis told me that the Disciples were never in the same place for more than a couple of days, and they rarely ever resided in Zari-Bars, for fear of the people turning against them. It seemed that one of them had "stolen" a man's daughter, with the word "stolen" referring to the daughter choosing to convert and join them of her own free will. The father had tried to take her back with the help of several villagers, but she'd forced them away and the Disciples had journeyed into the desert, never to be seen again.

I'd been unhappy to learn that, as I had no other leads on their location. It made me so mad just thinking of it that my face started to grow crimson.

Sara must've noticed the change in my appearance, which led her to say, "What's your problem?"

I turned to look at her, still fuming. "Nothing," I offered.

"It sure doesn't look like nothing."

"Well, who asked you?"

I couldn't believe myself. I was never this snippy with anyone, let alone the one person in the world who could possibly understand what I was going through. Even in my worst moment I was a better man than this, right?

"Don't you get angry at me!" Sara shouted, her eyes ablaze. "Excuse me for just trying to find out what's wrong with you!"

"Well, then you're excused," I said, nonchalantly.

Sara halted, and I did the same to find out what she was going to do. She glared at me, bringing a feeling of shame upon me.

Too little, too late.

Sara tensed up, clenching her fists. "What is it with you, Matt?" she asked. "Why don't you talk to me anymore?"

I was taken aback, knowing I wasn't the only person there involved in the mutual "silent treatment" we'd given one another. "Why don't I talk to you anymore?" I asked. "Well what about you, Sara? When was the last time you talked to me when the two of us didn't have to?"

All I had to do was tell her what was on my mind. All I had to do was say that I wanted to talk to her, to reconnect with her, and to help her move on with me, but did I do it? Ha! A poor simpleton like me could never keeps things so simple, so what did I do instead? I started snapping back at her.

"Why do you think I haven't said anything?" Sara demanded. "Do you know how hard it's been to even be near you, Matt? After…After what happened to me? How could I? I…I was hurt by those men…and you're a…Oh, forget it. You'd never understand me, or what I'm talking about. You had it easy. At least when you got beat, that little tramp healed you up just fine. No one ever did that for me."

I opened my mouth to speak, but stopped myself from saying something I would regret later on. Focusing myself—which was very hard to do at that point in time—I said, "You think it was easy for me? Did you even pay attention to what happened to me? God, what is wrong with you? Are you that stupid?"

(Yeah, remember that part where I said I'd focused myself to avoid saying a word or sentence I'd regret? It didn't work out as well as I said it.)

"Don't call me stupid!" Sara yelled, heading over to me and slapping me just hard enough for me to end up with my face colliding against the scalding desert sand.

I pushed myself up off of the sand and clenched my fists, not once thinking of the consequences of my actions. I sent the strike right in the center of Sara's face, breaking her nose when the blow impacted her face, sending her several feet in the other direction. Sara hit the sand hard, and it scraped some of her skin away from her arms and legs.

I panted, trying to fill my lungs with air, and noticed my heart didn't seem to want to kill my just yet. I wondered if I shoot use my taser on her next.

That's when it hit me: I'd just hit Sara. I'd just hit the only person I'd ever loved. I'd just hit the one person I'd sworn never to abuse.

I'd lied.

Trembling as the horrible realization swept over me, I ran over to Sara and tried to apologize, but the moment I did she kicked me in the groin, causing me to fall down in pain. Gathering my strength, I picked my head up off the sand, and stared at Sara, trying to let her know I was sorry.

"How…How could you?" Sara asked, eyes starting to flood. "You were…you were the only person who'd never hurt me, Matt. Why?"

Sara picked herself up, gave one last look at me, and ran off into the desert.

I watched her leave, both telling myself to get as far away from her as possible, and to run after her and apologize. I did neither, just lying there in the sand, crying my eyes out, and eventually succumbing to fatigue and passing out.

* * *

"Joyfully you'll pull up buckets of water from the wells of salvation," a man's voice said, waking me up. "And as you do it, you'll say, 'Give thanks to God. Call out His name. Ask Him anything! Shout to the nations, tell them what He's done, spread the news of His great reputation!"

I opened my eyes as I watched him take some water out of a well to fill his animal skins. I strained to focus on him, finding he wore a turban and white cloak reminiscent of the ones I'd seen on stereotypical desert dwellers in the movies.

I shut my eyes, trying to recall where that quotation he'd recited was from, but recalling that he was citing a verse from the book of Isaiah.

"Oh, I see you are awake, my time displaced friend," he said, making me realize he'd sat right beside me.

"Huh?" I said, blinking twice as I pushed myself up from whatever mattress this mystery man had placed me on. "How do you know that?"

The man smiled. "News of your troubles have reached even the desolate areas of the desert it seems. Besides, one look at your clothing and general features would tell all who saw you that you are not from this world, at least not in the state we know it to be today. I picked you up out of the sand and brought you here to safety. However, we are both at a disadvantage here, as neither of us knows the other's name. I am Abdimalkah."

"Matthew King," I said, extending my hand. "Call me Matt."

Abdimalkah paused for a moment as he examined my hand. I realized he didn't know what I was trying to convey, and spoke up, "Where I come from, when strangers or friends meet, they shake hands. Just an old custom of ours."

He nodded, accepting my hand. "An admirable display of care."

When I let go of his hand, I had a flash of memory running through me and I recalled how I'd ended up there.

"Sara!" I shouted, standing up to look for her.

The sun had set, allowing the desert air to cool, almost to unbearable temperatures if it were late enough, but not then. I looked frantically around, not locating Sara near me at all. I glanced at Abdimalkah, who was staring at me intently.

"Is Sara your companion?" he asked.

"Do you know where she is?" I asked, kneeling down in front of him, as I began to beg for information. "Please, please tell me where she is. I have to find her and make up for what I did!"

"I should not be the one you ask for help and neither should you be bowing down to me."

I picked my head up to see him, noticing a more stern appearance where his once jovial features had been.

"Instead you should ask our Father, who knows all things. I am but a mortal man who is less than able to do anything of merit without Him, but I should not have to be explaining this to you, as you share one of His Son's symbols."

He pointed at my cross necklace, which hung down from my body, as I was still semi-bowing.

"You mean this?" I asked, holding it in one hand. "Are you…Can you be one of the Disciples?"

"Indeed I am," Abdimalkah said. "But that is but a mere word compared to what it truly encompasses."

"Uh…okay?" I said.

He shook his head. "It is far from okay, Matt."

I eyed Abdimalkah for a moment, trying to understand him, but nothing came to mean. Finally, however, my questions began to bubble to the surface of my mind and I forgot all about Sara, something I am still not exactly proud of.

"You talk of God as if He still exists in this cesspool," I said.

"You doubt the Lord's existence?" Abdimalkah asked. "Excellent! What a great undertaking you are beginning to take!"

I stared at him, wondering if he were sane. I'd just told him I doubted the master of the universe's existence, and he acted like I'd just won the Super Bowl. Who the heck acts like this? Well, I'll tell you who: Someone who's been there before and seen what needs to be done to get past this part of your life.

"What kind of response is that?" I asked, confused. "Shouldn't you be mad at me for what I just said?"

"Are you kidding, young master Matt?" Abdimalkah asked. "You are in such a wondrous position right now that I am envious of you!"

I shook my head, wondering if the definition of wondrous had changed since I'd been taken away from home. "You're…envious?"

"As much as one can be without committing the sin itself!"

"Oh…okay, sure then."

"Now you must tell me your troubles, young master Matt. I am so old, yet you approach me as a young man with such a need of answers. I will provide what I can, for you see, I am like Phillip, and you are my Ethiopian eunuch. Through my words you will find a way to bring others to true safety, even if you choose not to believe in them at this moment in time. The Lord is patient and He knows when an action should happen. His will not ours."

"His will, eh?" I repeated. "So it was His will that my girlfriend and I be taken away from our homes, tortured, and then forced to commit to acts none of us would ever do if this had never happened to us? It's His will that Sara was raped twice and then had to murder the man who was going to rape her in order for us to escape _Hellywood_? It's His will that I attacked my girlfriend when she hit me for a valid reason, causing her to run away from me, and leave me alone in the desert?"

"From a certain point of view," he offered. "True, the Lord allows for things to happen to us, but He never causes them to happen. However this doesn't mean that He does not care about what happens to us."

"Since when has God ever cared about what happens here? If He really cared He'd take a more active role in this world! How could He have let this happen to me? To Sara?"

Abdimalkah straightened up his face. "He has always cared, even when it seems like He does not."

"What kind of an answer is that? Where's the proof? Come on, I dare you to show me one thing that proves He's cared even once through this whole experience! Go on, make my day!"

I crossed my hands together, ready for an answer.

"Are you not alive, young master Matt?" Abdimalkah asked.

"Yes, yes I am, all the good it's doing me," I said, scoffing.

"Then one would assume that living is always a sign that someone cares enough about you to allow you to remain so?" Abdimalkah said.

"No, it doesn't," I protested. "It shows He's keeping me alive long enough for Him to have His fun and then He'll dispose of me as soon as I'm no longer a source for His entertainment!"

He sighed. "Is that what you truly believe, young master Matt?"

I opened my mouth to send my agreement with my statement, but I held my tongue, knowing that was just one idea I'd had. "I could."

"Then don't. Focus on the positives."

"What positives? Maybe you didn't hear me before, so I'll explain it again: We're not even supposed to be here! I'm supposed to go to college a couple months from now and Sara's supposed to finish up high school in two years! We were going to be with each other forever there, but now look at us! We got taken away from our homes and brought here to this godforsaken wasteland by a goddamned tyrant who cares nothing about our welfare and forced me to work for him! He forced Sara to get abused! And there was nothing I could do to stop it!"

"Are you sure there was nothing you could do to stop it?"

I paused, unsure what he meant by the question.

Abdimalkah answered for me, "Was there ever a point in time that you could have stopped this all from happening?"

I looked away from him, trying to reflect on my life in _Hellywood_ to see if there had been a time I could've stopped all this from occurring. There were plenty of complex opportunities, but they didn't seem right. Of course I could've taken my chances by just running out with Sara like we'd done weeks ago, but would that have worked out? Maybe we weren't supposed to leave until that moment in time.

"Maybe," I said, simply.

"The questions requires an answer of yes or no," Abdimalkah corrected me.

"Um…yes, I guess."

"No, you must know the answer."

"Who are you to demand this of me? Why are you interrogating me like this? What is your problem?"

"I have no problems other than the ones that I experience out here in the desert. You, however, have many that can only be solved through dealing with them directly. If you do not, then all you desire is lost."

I scoffed. "Oh yeah, and what would that be?"

"You want to reconnect with the Lord, but you are afraid He does not exist at all," Abdimalkah said. "You wish to make up for your mistakes, and to repent of any actions you took that hurt those you love and care for the most. You wish to go back home, not realizing that the meaning of home has changed for you. But more than anything, you want to protect and apologize to Sara, who you love more than anything in this world, but you don't know how."

I shook my head, amazed by his ability to sense everything that was on my mind, even the parts I hadn't gone into detail about.

"Yeah, so I do desire all those things," I said. "But I can't deal with those until I get an answer about God's existence. If He doesn't…then what's the point? Sure I could somehow reconnect with Sara and live the rest of my days with her, but what about after that? What about when we both die? What happens if there's no such thing as God? Why won't He answer any of my questions?"

"Perhaps He has, but you haven't been able to discern them yet," Abdimalkah suggested.

"But how do I know?" I asked. "How could I possibly know when He won't talk to me face to face?"

"How have those in the faith done the same for billions of years, young master Matt, even after the Savior died and left this mortal realm behind? With your faith, Matt. 'Faith is…the evidence of things unseen.' Why did you believe in the first place?"

I didn't answer at first; I couldn't, the question was too huge to be answered just like that. Why did I believe before all this happened to me? Was it because it seemed like everything would be okay if I did? Was it only a means to an end? Or did I actually trust in the word because that's what was true?

"Because it's…right?" I said.

"Was that a question or a statement?" he asked.

"Because it's right."

"And why is it right, Matt?"

"Because I believe it is. It's the only thing that ever makes sense to me…even when it doesn't at all. I don't always believe in it, even when I do trust in it, because sometimes it doesn't always seem to work the way I think it does…if that makes sense at all."

Abdimalkah chuckled. "As good an answer as any. You asked earlier why I was happy you were doubting, so I will answer you: Because doubt is our greatest friend as it is our greatest enemy, if that makes sense at all."

Now it was my turn to laugh. "I think I get it. Doubt is an enemy because it makes me question the truth, and that affects my thoughts and actions…sometimes allowing me to make stupid decisions like with what I did with…Sara. But it's also a very good thing, since it helped me to understand more…but I'm still not entirely positive about it just yet. I'm sorry, but I can't believe it all just yet. I need time."

"You have nothing to apologize for, young master Matt. I do not expect you to change your mind after one measly conversation. You need time and time you have, but you must remember that sometimes time may run out, so you must make a decision very soon. However, it would appear that one such decision is coming your way as we speak."

I furled an eyebrow, wondering what he was talking about when I heard Sara's voice shout through the darkness, "Matt, where are you? I'm sorry, please come back!"

_She's apologizing to me after all I did to her? _I thought. _I mean, she did slap me, but I deserved it. I wonder what I can say to her…_

"Sara, I'm over here!" I shouted, standing up to figure out where she was in the blackness. "Can you hear me? I'm over here with—!"

I turned around to see that Abdimalkah wasn't there. Hadn't he been there not two seconds ago? I looked to the ground and found a weird metallic object. Forgetting about Sara for a moment, I picked it up and was astonished to see the first chapter of Genesis appear in holographic form in front of me, as the device started reading it off for me.

"Matt, is that you?" Sara called from the darkness. "Oh, please let it be you."

Accidentally dropping the device when I noticed Sara's voice again, I found a note written on paper that hadn't been there when I'd last looked.

It stated: _Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. – Joshua 1:9_

_Hopefully this will provide you with all of the answers you need, Matt._

_Your brother in the faith,_

_Abdimalkah_

I looked at the note, unbelieving. How had he known the life verse that my own parents had given me?

"Matt, it's you!" Sara exclaimed from behind me, breaking me away from my train of thought.

I turned around to see her, and realized just how worn down she was. Her hair was all over the place and her body was covered in sand. However, despite it all, she ran over to me and hugged me, saying, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Matt. I don't know what came over me."

I pushed her back, trying to understand her. Why was she apologizing to me? I was the one who'd punched her. I'd abused her. Me, the one who was supposed to help her take care of herself, had knocked her into the sand.

"Not for that, Matt," Sara corrected me. "For starting this off by not talking with you. Yes, I know you're not blameless, but just let me speak."

I nodded.

Sara backed off for a moment, holding her shoulders with her hands. "I know that I haven't been very…talkative about what happened to me, and you know why too, but we aren't being fair to each other by not talking." She turned to face me. "I was having some…some bad thoughts about you, Matt, and I need to apologize."

"Bad thoughts?" I repeated. "About me?"

"Yeah, it's…it isn't your fault, Matt, but I couldn't help it. I kept having these weird dreams where you were just as bad as the…other men."

"Oh. Like…what they did to you?"

Sara nodded. "I'm sorry. You'd never do that to me. I know that now."

I cringed inwardly, recalling my dream from a couple days ago. "Sara, you don't have to apologize to me. You've…You went through something that I can't really ever understand, and it hurt you in ways I can't imagine. It's only natural that you'd think like that. But what I did was inexcusable. I hit you, Sara! I've never hit you before! I'd never do something like that…but I did. I'm worthless."

I sunk my head in shame.

"No, you're not, Matt," Sara said, surprising me.

"After what I just did to you, that's the response you give me?" I asked, not able to understand her reasoning behind the comment.

"You had a moment of weakness, Matt. We both did. You may have deserved it, but I still shouldn't have slapped you. And before you say anything, yes, I wasn't in the right mind, but neither were you. You know, Matt, sometimes you'll make any excuse in the world for me, so long as it puts me in a positive light. I'm not perfect, Matt."

"Well, uh, yeah, Sara, but still—"

"—But still nothing, Matt," Sara interrupted. "Quit making excuses. We screwed up. _We_. Not just you. Listen, I had as much time as you did to think about this whole mess, and I came to the conclusion that I'd forgive you if you were sorry for what you did. You obviously are, so let's forget this ever happened and move on. Can you do that for me, Matt?"

"I-I—Of course I can, Sara," I said, smiling. "Anything for you."

"Good, because if you couldn't, you'd never get these."

"These what?"

Sara took out her backpack, which I'd failed to notice was still with her. Looking for mine, I saw it left with the device that had held the holographic Bible. Returning to face her, I saw a bunch of flowers that fit the description of the one that had been in Hamdo's garden.

"You found them?" I asked, amazed.

Sara beamed with pride. "Yep, when I was out there thinking I stumbled upon them. I'd already decided to forgive you, so I took them out and brought them with me."

I smiled and hugged her tight. It felt so good. It'd been far too long since we'd shared an intimate moment like that.

"You ready to go back home, Matt?" Sara asked after we broke off the embrace.

I nodded. "Lead the way, sweetheart."

A/N: Next chapter will see three familiar faces come back to both plague and help Matt and Sara. Explanations regarding the state of the world will also be brought into play, dispelling all of Matt's theories on the matter, and leaving some more questions as well.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: Hello once again. Just finished this chapter, which involves something I must bring up real quickly. There is a point in this that diverges just a little more from canon than I have done. Hopefully not enough to tune some of you out, but just enough to get some revelations that needed to be placed at this point in time in the story. Some of you might not see this as a big deal, but I just wanted to let you know about the slight change. It's a small scene in the episode in question, but deviates just enough to be a great scene in my opinion. Hope you enjoy. Please let me know if there is anything I need to change or edit.

Chapter 19

The trip back was much better than the way there, mostly because Sara and I were able to talk to each other without as much difficulty. I still didn't have all the answers I really needed, but to just have Sara talking and smiling again made me postpone my own desire to figure them out.

I make it a point never to make Sara angry, sad, or upset if I can help it, not only because, well, it's kind a good thing to do that anyways, but mostly because she never looks the same when something's bothering her. When she's down on life or just plain depressed it seems like Sara's vitality is taken away from her. She shines less in the day, speaks with a broken voice, and clouds the air with an unsettling feeling of shame. I guess everyone does it when they get down, but I suppose I can pick up when Sara isn't feeling well better than anyone else due to all the time we've shared together.

The point being that a joyful Sara is the best Sara to have around. Maybe she wouldn't ever be able to come to terms with what had happened to her in _Hellywood,_ but I swear it made all the difference in the world for the both of us to see each other happy and engaged in healthy conversation.

During these talks, we found out that Sis had left us another mission to do, but it was much too late to go back to do it, since we discovered it was a day's walk from Zari-Bars. It was designed to find more trees for the village to use for agricultural purposes. Sara and I had seen no trees since we'd left Zari-Bars, so we considered that we'd done the job she'd asked of us without even knowing it.

By the time we came back to Zari-Bars, several weeks had passed, and it seemed like the village was on high alert. Nonplussed, we dropped off the flowers at the doctor, who told me he would be able to craft some medicine very soon, which was a pleasant thought, since I was dangerously low on pills at the time.

I felt so supremely happy, as if there was no way our joy could ever leave us or that the problems we'd faced in the past few months never existed at all. All my injuries had been healed and Sara was finally opening up again. Nothing could stop us, not ever again, because we were together and healing. _Hellywood's _threat to the world be damned. We were finally content with our lives.

Unfortunately, contentment is a relative term.

Still engaged in conversation among ourselves, it took Sara and I some time to head back to Sis's house and we didn't even bother to look around when we entered.

Sis spoke up first, and I didn't even try to glance at her as I took my goggles and turban off, both of which had reduced the effects of the sand on my eyes and body. "I didn't think that you'd be back so soon. Did you find anything?"

Sara answered, "No, there are no more trees around here, Sis."

"But we did find the plants," I said.

"None, huh? Well thanks for your trouble. Good job, though on finding the plants you two. What did the good doctor say?"

"They'll be finished within a couple days. No problem really."

That's when I heard a voice I hadn't heard in a long time; one that inevitably gave me more memories of _Hellywood_ than I dared recall.

"Sara!" Shuzo Matsutani exclaimed, causing us to look in his direction. "Matt! What are you doing here?"

"Shu, my man!" I shouted, happy at the unexpected development. "You got out of there too? Awesome!"

Sara, however, took a different approach than I had, mostly because of another certain someone in the room after she said, "Shu?"

She looked over to her right and I followed her, my eyes widening when I found out whom Sara was staring at: Lala-Ru. Sara and I both gasped, and I saw the telltale signs of Sara tensing up and immediately went to her side, trying to say something to console her, but she had already started to descend to her previous mindset.

Her face trembling, Sara said, "Lala…Lala-Ru."

"Lala-Ru?" Sis repeated.

Shu gasped and gave an involuntary step back.

Sara gasped as well and pulled her head back a bit, as she started grunting in an unintelligible tone.

"Let it go, Sara," I said. "Please let it go."

"Sara?" Sis asked, wondering what the heck was going on.

Sara continued to tremble, this time violently, making me wonder if she was about to experience a seizure. I grabbed her tightly to try and calm her down, but she pushed me away and continued to stare at Lala-Ru, who was gazing at Sara with what seemed to be a look of apathy. But then, before I could get back to Sara and restrain her, she lunged after Lala-Ru, leaving her cloak behind, and knocking the girl over.

"Sara!" Sis and I yelled out at once.

Kneeling over Lala-Ru, Sara shrilled out the words, "It's all your fault! It's all your fault!" Each time she connected a blow to Lala-Ru's face. "You did this to me!"

Growling like a woman possessed, Sara continued to batter Lala-Ru to the floor, with the blue-haired girl offering no resistance whatsoever.

I stared at the scene trying to force my legs to go out and stop her, but I was plagued by a promise I'd sworn to Sara when we'd been imprisoned in _Hellywood_. I'd told her I'd help her kill Lala-Ru when the time came, but I had lied to her. How could I ever kill someone who'd done us no wrong besides having an uncanny resemblance to the woman I loved? But I had promised Sara and she was growing insane over the issue if her exploits on the floor proved that at all. My moral conundrum shattered my resolve and I stood in place, unable to move.

"It's your fault!" Sara continued to yell, gathering another blow, but this time she was stopped by someone with more guts than me: Shu.

"Stop it, Sara!" he yelled, as he grabbed her arms and pulled her back, Sara just screaming the entire time.

The children had all gathered around Sis, who was watching the scene unfold with incredulity on her face, while Lala-Ru remained on the ground, with bruises and gashes forming all over her. Eventually my body allowed me to move again and I started over to where Shu and Sara were wrestling each other, just as Sara collapsed from exhausting herself in such a short time. Shu continued to hold her in his arms as she went limp.

"Sara!" I cried out, trying to wake her up, as I took her away from Shu, who let me hold her. Cradling her in my arms, I started to cry, knowing that everything the two of us had developed over the past few weeks had been destroyed in less than five minutes of returning to Sis's home.

"It can't be," Sis said from behind us, making Shu and me look at her. "Lala-Ru?"

I looked over to Lala-Ru, who was lying unconscious on the floor. She had a look of terror on her face, which was perfectly understandable based on what had happened to her. Turning away from her to look at Sara and check her up, I noticed that she her face was scrunched up and tense, as if she were still involved in the one-sided battle she had started against Lala-Ru.

"Matt, you need to take her upstairs and let her lie down," Sis said.

I nodded, picking Sara up, but was astonished to see her suddenly regain control over her body and called out to her as she ran out the door. I ran after her, but clutched my heart the moment I felt a sharp pain in my chest. Grabbing the side of the wall, I tried to breathe in and out, hoping it would pass in time for me to go after her.

"Soon go after Sara," Sis said. "Shu get Matt over to a seat, while I check Lala-Ru for significant injuries."

"No, goddamn it, not now of all times," I said, trying to fight myself in order to get out there and locate Sara. "I need to go out there and find her and—"

"You will do nothing of the sort, young man, especially not in your condition. Now let Shu help you to your seat."

Sis reminds me very much of my own mother, in the way that they would both get me to do whatever they wanted me to do. All my mother would have to do would be to start off a sentence with, "You will do this, young man," and I always did it, never once wishing to gain her wrath. Mothers are wonderfully beautiful and caring creatures by design, but they are also one of the most vicious beings ever forged when they have been wronged by their offspring. Just something to think about should you act up.

"Yes, ma'am," I said, trying to give Shu just enough of my weight to allow him an easier time to help me over to my chair, as Soon left the house and Sis picked up the damaged Lala-Ru, who was also awakening.

Sitting down, I noticed the pain in my chest was leaving.

_Well that's convenient, _I thought.

Sis checked Lala-Ru's face for the injuries Sara had given her, treating what she could at the time, and eventually she forced the strange being to sit down next to Shu and I, as she shooed the other kids from the room.

"Lala-Ru," she said, examining her. "I've never seen the real thing."

All of us sat with our heads drooped, but I was the only one who saw what was going to happen to us.

"I'm sorry I lied to you," Shu said later on after a pause.

"Why weren't you honest with me from the beginning?" Sis asked, her voice growing sterner. She leaned in closer, looking intently at Lala-Ru. "Did you think I was going to hurt you? Were you afraid of me?"

When Lala-Ru offered no answer, Sis stood up and approached them.

"No, Sis," Shu said, trying to prevent something he didn't feel comfortable about from happening. "It's just that we…"

Sis stood over me first, knocking me in the head. I was ready for the blow and just accepted it. She turned to Lala-Ru and tapped her on the back of the head, who acted as if it were the worst form of torture known to humankind, yet still turned around to face Sis with Shu, as I watched.

"That's for telling a lie," Sis proclaimed, looking at Lala-Ru. "As for you," she said, looking at me, "that's for not stopping Sara before she could hurt one of my own children."

I nodded, accepting the attack on my pride, since it was true in every sense.

Sis returned to Lala-Ru and Shu and said, "Listen, in this house, if you do wrong, you get a knuckle…doesn't matter if you're a boy or girl. If you don't do wrong, nobody will hit you or treat you bad, no matter who you are." She smiled. "That's how it is in this household."

"All right, Sis!" Shu shouted, not knowing what was about to happen to him. Poor naïve fool.

Sis nailed him in the center of his head, forcing Shu to fall back and hit one of the chairs, proclaiming, "Ow! Ouch!"

"You too!" Sis said with added emphasis.

"How come you hit me harder than you hit her?" Shu asked, nursing his wounds.

"You're hardheaded, so I would say that that was just about perfect."

I laughed, unable to help myself. I received a smack to the left cheek for my troubles.

"It's Sara I'm worried about," Sis said as I got back up, sobering my thought pattern with her words.

"That's right, Sara and Matt!" Shu exclaimed, as if he realized I was there for the first time. "Why are they staying here?"

"Sis found us in the desert after we escaped _Hellywood _and gave us a home here," I answered.

"But I never figured you'd know each other," Sis said. "Is Sara's attack the result of her personal feelings about Lala-Ru?"

Lala-Ru seemed confused by the statement, even though we'd had a short talk about some of the issues at hand.

"Yeah," I said, sighing. "That's why she attacked her."

"Sara was brought to _Hellywood_ because they mistook her for Lala-Ru," Shu said and I nodded. "Does she…hate her, Matt?"

I sighed again. "More than you want to know, Shu."

Sis sighed as well. "For now all we can do is wait. I'll leave you three here while I go off to locate Sara and Soon."

As Sis left the room, I sat down once more, ruffled my hands through my white hair, and closed my eyes, wishing this were all some bad dream.

"Why did this have to happen?" I asked to no one in particular. "Why do all these bad things keep happening to us?" I looked up at Shu, who looked as uncomfortable as I felt. "How do you do it, man? How do you stay so positive all the time? It's obvious all the crap Hamdo put you through, but I don't see you whining and complaining like I am."

"I, uh, I don't know," Shu said, shrugging. "I guess it's because it's how I should feel."

"That's your answer? Wow, what a philosopher you are."

"Well, why are you so down all the time?"

I scoffed, wondering if it were even a serious question. "You've got to be kidding me, kid. You don't know why I'm down right now?"

Shu shook his head.

"What are you dense? My girlfriend and I were taken away from our homes and our families by some sick twisted psycho who cares only about himself and nothing for us, just because Sara just happened to look like her!" I shouted, pointing at Lala-Ru, who retreated behind Shu. "And then I worked for him and Sara got raped! Raped, Shu!"

"But it's not Lala-Ru's fault!" Shu protested.

"Don't you think I know that!" I thundered. "I know it's irrational to hate Lala-Ru for something outside of her control, but I can't help it, damn it! My girlfriend has been violated two times and almost a third, and there was nothing I could do about it! 'As long as you're alive good things will come and we'll be okay!' that's what you said, right, Shu? Yeah, I can totally get behind that piece of crap theory. I tried and tried to stop it from happening! Hell, I prayed more than I've prayed in the past eighteen years of my life, never getting an answer from that sadistic son of a bitch who says He supposedly loves us! Ha, I'd like Him to come down and say that to me right now!"

I paused, gathering some air to fill my lungs, which I'd deprived of oxygen due to my rant.

"You shouldn't say those things about Him," Lala-Ru said a moment later, which brought me back the conversation at hand.

"Oh, and why not?" I asked.

"He gets angry when someone misuses His name. I know that more than most."

Contrary to my mental state at the time, my curiosity tried to leak out, filling my head with conflicting responses to her statement. "Yeah, you mentioned Him when we first met. So what?"

"He was the one who gave me life when the Earth was thrown into turmoil during the Seventh Great Cataclysm. After humanity had vanished He sent me to test it out to see if it was possible for it to be saved. I have yet to come to a conclusion."

"Just how long have you been here, Lala-Ru?" I asked, somewhat calming down.

"Billions of your years," she answered. "I arrived just after the fools who caused the Seventh Great Cataclysm vanished into time, bringing most everything with them."

"Wait, you're telling me that we actually sent everyone into the future because of a…what exactly?"

"The same device that brought us here was the cause. Its first test resulted in every human being left alive being transported billions of years into Earth's future. I have been here ever since they first left, taking care of what I could to make it habitable once humanity returned, but I cannot fight God's designs, and the world soon began to die, just as your people returned."

"So those people in Das Paradies actually existed billions of years ago and then they shot everyone into the future?"

"Correct."

"Wow, talk about bizarre," Shu said. "This whole thing is over my head."

Unlike my friend, I was grasping this much better. "So why were you sent here again, Lala-Ru?" I asked.

"To prepare the world for humanity's arrival, and to judge them when they came, in order to see if they were worthy to still be dealt with," Lala-Ru said.

"And…what exactly does that entitle?"

"If humanity fails my test, then they die, forever separated from their ideal future, but if they pass, a chance will be given again."

"What do you mean by 'a chance,' Lala-Ru?"

She shrugged. "I didn't bother to ask Him to elaborate on the subject when He first brought it to my attention. It seemed very likely that it would never happen, so I left without asking."

I scoffed. "Already passed judgment on us mortals, eh?"

"It seemed to be the proper course of action," Lala-Ru said. "However…I have met some problems with my first thought of humanity."

"Such as?"

"People like Shu, Sis, and you. You are anomalies that do not represent the whole of humanity. You actually understand the sanctity of life and what it means to live, or at least you did. Now you doubt, which is only natural."

"We aren't anomalies!" Shu yelled suddenly. "The only people who're anomalies are people like Hamdo who fight for no reason at all and kill people whenever they feel like it! They're evil and humanity isn't like them at all!"

"Are you really, Shu? Because I have lived on this world far longer than you, and seen nothing but war, hatred, and death caused by you humans."

"So what? We're not all like that, I swear! We may have a couple bad people come every now and then, but at our very cores we're good people!"

I didn't know who to believe in. Lala-Ru and Shu both had valid points in the argument. I'd seen some good people in my time, like Sara when we'd first met. The first thing she thought about when I offered her money was to give away to children in need. But I'd also had my fair share of evil people as well, the most obvious being Hamdo, who practically defined the word.

Our debate was interrupted by the arrival of Sis, who seemed concerned.

"Did you find her?" I asked, trying not to panic and cause my heart rate to start accelerating once more.

She shook her head. "No, but if we all go out and—"

"Sis!" Soon's voice cried out from the doorway. "Sara collapsed! Come quick! She's at the doctor's now!"

I was out the door before Sis could warn me to calm down. It had been hard enough waiting for news of Sara to arrive, harder still for me to know that I couldn't actively search for her, given my decision, but there was no way I wasn't going to rush off and find her once her location had been revealed.

My one-track mind almost caused me to run into another familiar face, one that just ruined my mood even more than I cared to admit.

As I glided down the streets, I almost bumped into Kazam, who seemed just as surprised to see me as I did him.

"What the—What the hell are you doing here?" I demanded.

"Matt?" he asked, unsure. "Is it really you?"

"You bet, you rapist! How the hell can you walk around here and still be okay with what you did and—Why the hell are you here in the first place?"

"I escaped like you did. Hamdo has grown insane, and many soldiers are fleeing from _Hellywood_ as we speak."

Something in his voice told me he was lying, but I didn't have time to deal with him, not when Sara's life was on the line.

"Just stay away from us, or I'll kill you!" I roared, jetting over to the hospital, not once giving Kazam another look.

I wondered if I could make it in time. I wondered what was wrong with Sara. She had collapsed twice in one day. This couldn't be good…so I did the one thing I didn't want to do: I prayed.

A/N: To fans of the show, the revelation of the next chapter should be obvious, but to those who don't, let's just say it changes everything, which forces Matt to face what he views as the cause of the problem. The next chapter should come sometime around Friday, because I have tests in Chemistry and Bio this week, and let's just say I haven't been studying the way I should have. I also have a couple projects in both my Creative Writing classes, so it will be around Friday when the next chapter comes. Until next time.


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: Finally got through all of those worthless exams and managed to finish all my short stories for class as well, and they were well-received, so that made them worthwhile. Depending on what I end up doing tomorrow, I may finish the next chapter and post it, or I may be working on another project of mine. Maybe both if things go well enough. Anyway, here it is; I hope you enjoy it. As always let me know of anything that needs my attention here.

Chapter 20

I barged into the doctor's house without even bothering to explain myself, and demanded to see Sara, almost causing the poor guy to fall down when he became alerted to my sudden presence. I stared at him, almost glaring, as I waited for him to give me what I needed, but he kept looking at me in fear, and I didn't know why until later just why he was so afraid.

According to Sis, when the doctor—Asa—first noticed me, he thought that I was some desert demon called the Lilith, which was supposed to come in the night to take away its prey and shrill out a warning of the prey's future and unstoppable demise, quite similar to the banshee back home. My haggard appearance—combined with the massive amount of sweat all over my body from both running and worrying—almost gave the poor doctor a heart attack.

However—once he realized who I was, and that I had just been at his home just a couple hours before—Asa stood up and pushed me up against the wall.

"What the hell did you think you were doing you idiot!" the doctor demanded as he clenched me tighter. "I could have been operating on her right now and made a fatal mistake! Did you even stop to think about her well being before you charged in here and scared me half to death?"

I tried to let out a response, but the pressure and pain of being held up against the cave wall to the doctor's house wasn't exactly the best feeling ever, so I just managed a couple harsh gasps before Asa let go of me and allowed me to catch my breath.

Panting to the side, my one-track mind asked the question, "Is Sara…okay?"

The doctor rolled his eyes, unhappy with my response, as he turned away from me. "You poor, simple-minded fool."

I looked up, and saw a bed nearby where Sara was resting. She looked stressed and broken down, as if her body was starting to work against her. Every now and then she'd make a slight noise, like maybe a grunt or a groan here and there. Some of them even sounded like words, but none of them sounded too promising, as they all consisted of "kill," "her," "I," and "hate."

To see her lying there and not having a means to help her out was messing with me, and I thought back on all the times I'd experienced that same feeling, cursing my mind for its accurate portrayals of Sara in duress.

"She needs for me to examine her alone," Asa said, alerting me to his presence once more. "If I learn anything I will let you know. Now kindly step over here away from the table, while you wait for Sis to come here and sort things out."

I did as instructed, wanting there to be another option, but the only one I could think of at the time—asking Lala-Ru nicely to heal Sara—didn't seem like a really good idea for some reason. Something to do with Sara just beating the crap out of her not but two hours before. You know, the usual reasons for refusing to help someone out.

I sat on a chair facing away from the doctor and Sara, who were both concealed by a white cloth. I could only sit there and wonder what Asa was doing to her to help check her out to see what was wrong, while I tried to figure out what had caused this little episode…well, besides the obvious reason.

Sure Sara had just been involved in an altercation with someone she loathed and asked me to kill, but there was more to it than that. Could it have been from the trip that we'd just gone through? We had made up with each other near the end, but that had still caused her to undergo some additional stress. The thought of going back to _Hellywood_ had been an unspoken problem between us as well. Both of us had had some dreams that involved Hamdo, Abelia, or even _Hellywood_ itself coming after us and taking us back there to be used against our wills once more. They were unpleasant things and it had taken all of my courage to even confess that I had them, only to find out that Sara had been having them as well, which, while not comforting in the least, at least let me know that someone else was experiencing the same problems as me. Then there was the work we'd started on before the trip to find my flowers. Sara and I had just been through a lot of hardship and adding arduous work to that wasn't exactly how I'd start our road to our recovery, but that couldn't be it, so what was it?

Maybe I was missing something…just something so horrible at first to discover that it hadn't even entered my mind or even been considered if it had even managed to slip into my thought process.

Around that time, Sis and Shu entered the doctor's house, both panting at the run they'd just gone through to get there.

"Is Sara alright!" Shu shouted, just as Sis smacked him across the back of the head.

"Keep your voice down, Shu!" she hissed. "Asa needs some peace and quiet to figure things out!"

"Then why can you yell at me?" Shu asked, while Sis clenched both her fists in response, making him melt away in fear.

Sis, however, didn't hit him this time, and looked at me, asking, "How are you feeling right now, Matt?"

Honestly, I wasn't prepared for that type of question. I'd expected Sis to ask the same thing Shu had, but in a more delicate manner. Leave it for someone else to start to worry about me when I never seem to do so myself. Sara says it's as useful a trait to have as it is detrimental to me, so take that as you will.

I stared at her for a moment, unsure as to how to answer her query. How was I feeling at the time? The old phrase "mixed feelings" came to mind immediately, as I was being swamped by a vast quagmire of anger, fear, regret, and about fifty other things that were about to mentally incapacitate me. I didn't even know it was possible for a human being to have this many emotions running through them at once.

"I…I don't know, Sis," I answered after a long wait that seemed to make Shu very agitated. I could tell he didn't like silence or awkward situations, well, more so than other people.

Sis nodded. "She'll be fine, Matt. Sara's a fighter, just like you are. She'll pull through soon enough."

I tried to smile, but my attempt fell flat, although Sis seemed to notice it. I looked at them, wondering what or who was missing, until I figured it out without asking: I noticed that Lala-Ru wasn't with them. That was probably one of the best ideas they'd ever had. I can only imagine what Sara would have done if she'd woken up and seen the subject of her hatred right beside her bed. I know it sounds like I'm selling Sara short here, but you've got to understand, she wasn't in the right mind at the time. A normal Sara would never hold a grudge like this one or even encourage the thoughts that I know ran through her mind at that time in her life. Sara was…broken then; she needed to find a way to get fixed, but leaped to the wrong conclusion to put her misery at an end. She may argue differently, but I have to say that it wasn't her fault that she'd acted like she had. Very few people I know would've acted any differently given the correct situation, which I hope never happens again in this world.

"Thanks, Sis," I mumbled, while debating whether I truly meant it or not.

Sis took the chair next to me, as she placed a knowing hand on my shoulder, and Shu sat beside me, his kendo stick, a _shinai_—which I haven't had a chance to describe before now because of different circumstances—resting by his side. My eyes drifted over to it, as I tried to figure out why he had it with him. Later he'd reveal that it was one of the few things in his possession when he tried to stop Abelia from taking Lala-Ru and that he'd just managed to get it back after someone mysteriously returned it to him.

It was near an adjusted two in the morning, which was about to become one of the longest days in my life.

* * *

"Please come here," Dr. Asa said near early morning. "I have some news for all of you."

I leapt up first, eager for information I'd been waiting forever to get a hold of, but Sis grabbed me from behind and calmed me down. Nodding, I accepted her silent rebuke and went over to where Dr. Asa was standing.

The moment I got there, I saw Sara's face and cringed. She looked awful, almost like her entire body was trying to give her permanent wrinkles where her brow was all scrunched up. Sara was even more feral in appearance than the last time I'd seen her with a similar look on her face.

The good doctor bent down and sat on a chair in front of Sara, while I stood by her side, trying to force her hand out of its clenched position, but failing, so I decided to just hold what I could, and try not to disturb her anymore than she already had been by what had happened to her last night. Shu and Sis both stood behind Dr. Asa, who had a grim expression on his face.

"She's overworked," he said, bluntly.

"Overworked?" Sis repeated, clearly unable to understand what he was talking about, a sentiment I shared at the time.

"And that's not all, she seems to be under serious mental stress. It looks to me that she hasn't had a rest in a long time."

That was a preposterous hypothesis to me at the time, mostly because I'd slept near Sara's mattress many times, and never once been awakened by her moving around as if awake. I was a light sleeper, so if anything moved around me, it always woke me up and made me cranky. I'd had no such experiences with Sara, so there had to be something else that had caused this. The overworking I could kind of get behind on, since Sara was not as adjusted as I'd been to starting up the laborious tasks, but even that didn't seem to tell me what was wrong with her. And the mental stress; that went without saying.

"I don't know how I could have driven her that hard," Sis said, concern all over her face. "She always got a good night's sleep and never once said she was tired."

"Yeah," I said. "I've always been near her when she sleeps at night, and she's never mentioned any sleeping problems. She and I have both had some bad dreams, but we always were able to go back to sleep after that. So what in the world does that leave for what's wrong with her?"

Dr. Asa looked at me intently, scanning me for reasons beyond my fragile bit of understanding at the time. "What indeed?" he asked.

"Sara," Shu said, almost as if he were thinking aloud.

"Come with me."

Dr. Asa motioned Sis, Shu, and I over away from Sara, but I wasn't ready to leave her side just yet. I couldn't do that to her right then. Even if she wasn't awake I had to be there for her and stay beside her, something God apparently didn't have in mind for the two of us at that moment in time.

"This most likely concerns you more than them," the good doctor said. "You should hear this, Matt."

I looked from him to Sara, wondering which one to choose. It sounded really important, so I gently picked up Sara's hand to my mouth and kissed it, while I brought it back down to the bed. Sighing heavily I walked over to Dr. Asa and the others, not once noticing that Sara had opened her eyes.

"There's something that concerns me," he said, sitting at his workbench.

"What is it, doctor?" Sis asked.

"That girl is pregnant."

"She's pregnant?" Shu suddenly shouted, throwing off my ability to think through my own thoughts.

"Hush up!" Sis demanded, making Shu sit down.

My thoughts slowly returning to me, the impact of what the doctor had just said finally hit me.

"Sara's…pregnant?" I whispered, mostly to myself. "That's impossible."

And to my poor feeble mind the concept was impossible, because nothing like that could ever happen to Sara or to anyone else in that situation. Sometimes, even when a person goes through untold amounts of tragedy, they never have the ability to accept the bad things that happen later on, almost as if someone else were going through them.

"Are you sure?" Sis asked, both her hands on her knees.

"Yes, she's not too far into it," Dr. Asa said, as he started to look at me. "Is the child yours?"

I was taken aback, woefully unprepared from the revelation I'd just received to have time to consider the idea. Of course the kid wasn't mine. I knew that and I knew that Sara would know that as well.

"No!" I protested, standing up. "Of course it isn't mine! I—She—We—God damn it, what the hell just happened here?"

"Keep your voice down, Matt!" Sis hissed. "We don't want to wake Sara up prematurely."

"Prematurely? Oh no, let's not wake her up prematurely and fill her head with the news that she's pregnant and that it's not even my kid."

"Are you absolutely sure it isn't yours?" Dr. Asa asked.

"I haven't been with Sara…that way. We haven't even—I mean, we've talked about it before, but we never did—Oh no."

Shu swears up and down that my body looked like one massive seizure when I finished my sentence, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's what it did look like, but at the time I had other things on my mind. I started panting for breath, even though I could get the right amount in my system, and began to panic.

"Oh, no, oh, God, no," I said, collapsing to my knees on the floor. "It had to be one of…one of them. Oh, God, no."

"One of who?" Dr. Asa asked.

I looked up at him, the beginnings of tears forming in my eyes. "One of Hamdo's soldiers. They…all—They raped her. Oh, God, why her?"

I barely noticed the form of Sis moving over to me through the currents of salty tears that ran down my eyes, but when I did, it was when she picked me up and hugged me tightly, allowing me to cry standing up.

"You've got to stop that now, Matt," she said. "You have to be strong for Sara, and for yourself. The crying has to end now."

"But it's so unfair, Sis," I said, trying to stop, but failing miserably. "Why did this have to happen to her? Hasn't she suffered enough?"

"It doesn't matter now, Matt, because it happened and now we have to deal with it, but how will you deal with it when Sara wakes up? Will she wake up to see you by her side in tears? Or will she see you calm and collected when you have to tell this to her?"

"I-I-I, but how can I? How can I do that? I'm not strong enough. How can I tell her that she's got to go through this? It's not like we'd abort the baby."

"Actually that is a possibility," Dr. Asa said. "But if that is your choice it would have to be done early to avoid harming the mother."

My sorrow was quickly replaced by anger, and I clenched my fists. I couldn't help it, even with all that was going on, I couldn't help but draw back on the things I'd been raised to believe in since birth. Reason is hardly ever reasonable.

"How dare you suggest that!" I roared. "That's a human being inside of her right now and you want to kill it? I ought to—!"

I was interrupted by the sounds of Sara crying out in anguish, causing my mood to shift once more into that overprotective side of me that always seems to come out at the worst time.

"Sara!" Shu and I both shouted at the same time, but Sis managed to restrain Shu, thus allowing me to reach Sara without unneeded help, or so I thought.

I bent down beside her bed and tried to reach out to her to calm her down, but she would have none of it.

"Leave me alone!" Sara thundered as she landed a right hook on my mouth, of which, I later found out, had almost broken my front teeth.

Nursing my wounds, I just stared at her, not knowing what to feel at the time, or if I'd ever be able to know the proper way to feel again.

"Just get out of here!" Sara continued to shout.

Unable to stop myself, I hastily stood up and fled the room…a decision that I still don't understand today, several months later.

I wandered aimlessly for a while, trying to gather my thoughts, but failing oh so spectacularly each time. I ended up losing control over my motor functions and falling into a side street where no one was.

Left alone to my own devices, I somehow managed not to let the tears that really wanted to escapes my body out, mostly because I was so mad. Mad at Hamdo, mad at a God I was still doubting—even though I'd accessed the virtual Bible many times—mad at Sara for kicking me out when I was trying to help her, mad at whoever it was that had impregnated the woman I loved, and mad at myself for failing as a man to protect her.

The fury built up at dangerous levels in my body and I grew hotter, which had nothing to do with the slowly rising red sun. I think what really set me to burst was when I noticed a small white object descend in front of my eyes: A white hair from the top of my head. Catching it with reflexes I didn't know I had, I tore the follicle in two.

I flashed back to all the times Sara and I had been mistreated in _Hellywood_, and how it had changed us both. At one time I'd been the only one to show physical signs of the abuse, but that would never be true again.

"She's pregnant," I said aloud. "Sara's really pregnant. Oh, God why is this all happening to us? I can't deal with this too. She was finally opening up to me, and we were going to move on with our lives, but then You just snatched it all away from her by adding this to her problems! What the hell is wrong with You? Do you get some sick thrill off of seeing us suffer like this?"

I received no answer to my questions and why should I have? I was an arrogant child who wailed at its parent to do whatever it wanted them to do, never once thinking about what the parent needs in return. I had no idea what I was asking, but I don't regret asking the questions at all, since they were answered later on…just not in the ways that I had expected.

Seeing they wouldn't be answered then, I shifted my thoughts on how Sara could have gotten pregnant, with my mind focusing on one man to bring the blame to: Kazam, who'd been the last man to rape Sara. I had no proof that Kazam was the father. There had been one other man, but he wasn't in Zari-Bars, therefore I couldn't use him as a scapegoat for my inadequacies as a man.

"I'm going to kill him!" I declared, as I rose up and ran off in a random direction, knowing I'd find him eventually.

Why was I so hell-bent on killing possibly the only man with a shred of morality in _Hellywood_? Did I even know why? The answer's no, but I needed someone to enforce my feelings on, and it wasn't like anyone would stop me, seeing as how he was a soldier from the hated _Hellywood_. Human beings can be very impetuous and petty creatures when events outside of their control occur, even supposedly heroic ones.

And so I searched everywhere in the village for Kazam, eventually locating him asleep underneath a tree surrounded by grass and small blue flowers. As I approached he woke up, alerted to the presence of another. He took one look at my countenance and rose up ready to block my assault, probably trying to figure out the method behind the mad look in my eyes.

"Matt, why are you doing this?" he asked, deflecting several of my blows.

I didn't answer him, too enraptured in my thoughts of revenge to care, and instead sent him flying once I finally landed a punch to his face. Kazam hit the ground hard, but was back up in an instant, the result of his training in _Hellywood_.

"Matt, what are you doing this for? What have I done?" Kazam asked, this time getting me to stop when it struck a nerve.

"What have you done?" I repeated, laughing. "Ha-ha, you can't be serious, can you? You know what you did to her! You know what you did to Sara!"

Kazam froze for a moment, unsettled by my words. "But I did what you told me to do…"

I shook my head, not sure if I'd heard him correctly. "You say that you did what I told you? When did I ever tell you to rape my girlfriend?"

Kazam sighed. "You asked for someone to treat her with respect and for that someone to treat her the way you would. When the people of my village spoke as plainly as you did that day, then it was a request for the one listening to do what was said. Even if the act is morally reprehensible to them, they must do it, or they will be forever known as one who denies a friend in need. I am sorry if I misunderstood."

I gawked at him. It didn't make sense, not one word of it. Did he really expect me to believe what was some obvious attempt to save himself?

The look in his eyes told me enough, though. They told me that Kazam was not only speaking the truth, but that he was offended both by what he'd done and that I had never even asked what he'd thought I'd asked.

The conflicting thoughts ran all over me and tore my mind apart, just as my heart decided to remind me it still wanted to sign my death warrant. I couldn't make sense of any of it; the whole thing was maddening to me, so much that my own body was unable to work properly. I clutched my chest as I fell to the ground, losing consciousness right before I hit the sun-baked dirt.

* * *

I awakened in a bed that had to be inside Sis's home, since the chatter of all the children she cared for filled my ears. Just as I opened my eyes, I became aware of the presence of someone on my chest and I saw the vague outline of Sara's head resting itself there, while she slept.

_What happened? _I asked myself.

A sudden stirring movement on my chest let me know Sara was awake and I saw for the first time how red her eyes were, which were probably as terrible looking as mine were. She gazed at me disbelievingly for a moment, but broke down when she realized I was okay.

"This is my fault!" she wailed, burying her head in my ribcage.

"Ow!" I exclaimed, unable to stop myself.

Sara moved herself back up and stared at me in horror. "I'm sorry, Matt! I'm so sorry! If you weren't always so concerned and overworking yourself this wouldn't have happened!"

"Sara…what happened?" I asked, weakly as I coughed.

She paused, debating something I couldn't figure out.

"Sara, what happened?" I repeated.

Tears formed in her eyes and she turned away from me. "It's just not fair!" she proclaimed. "None of this is fair!"

"It's not your fault you got pregnant, Sara. I don't blame you."

I tried to smile, but all I ended up with was some lopsided mess, but I did manage to look Sara in the eye, which told me she was worried about something else other than her own predicament.

"Matt…you're going to die next time," Sara said, her bottom lip twitching. "The next time you have an attack."

"Oh, come on, sweetheart, they've been saying that ever since I had my first one," I said, surprising myself with my jocularity.

Sara shook her head. "No, Matt, not this time."

"Huh?" I asked.

Sara frowned. "If you have another heart attack you're going to die, Matt. Your heart's taken too much abuse. Whoever it was that brought you to Dr. Asa said that you had fainted from the strain and that you didn't look like you'd make it another time, and he checked you out…and it's true."

I sunk back down, staring at the ceiling. I'd always known that this day would come, but I'd never thought it'd be this soon. This wasn't supposed to happen until I was married, had kids, and grown old enough for my heart to fail me at the right time. It was never supposed to happen when I was in my late teens.

"Are you okay?" Sara asked, knowing full well that neither of us were okay.

"Are you?" I asked.

Silence reigned supreme for a long time in the room. I tried to stay strong like what Sis had wanted me to do, but I couldn't do it…I was weak, but physically and mentally…so I cried, which made Sara cry.

"Sara, I'm so sorry," I said, my vision slowly blurring. "I'm sorry I could never be there when it mattered for you. I'm so useless. I hope you can forgive me."

"Of course I can, but you have to—Matt what's wrong?" Sara asked, switching her tone mid-sentence when I started closing my eyes. "No, don't leave me again!"

"So sorry…Sara…I need to rest a little…"

"No, Matt, you need to stay awake! Please don't leave me! You can't die like this!"

"Not dying…sleep…"

I closed my eyes fully, entering a dream that would change my life forever, but would also allow events outside of my control to unfold as I slept.

A/N: The next chapter will focus solely on Matt as he deals with his inadequacies, and provides some nice setup for a scene I've really wanted to get to once I started writing this, but until then it will just be about him and his attempts to strengthen himself. Until next time.


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: Sorry for the late update, but I've been consumed with the desire to write other things right now, but have no fear, I've figured out a system to even things out. I'm focusing on one chapter for one idea and then moving on after I finish that chapter to the next idea. It's helping to ease my need to get these things written now. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this, and, as per usual, please let me know if there's anything I need to know and/or change here. Thanks in advance.

Part VI: Finish Strong

Chapter 21

_Where am I?_ I asked, sensing that returning feeling of déjà vu.

My answer came to me almost immediately: The inner workings of _Hellywood_ stared back at me.

_No, this can't be happening to me right now,_ I thought, trying to stop myself from trembling. _I can't be here right now! I got away with Sara! We both got away to never come back here again! How did this happen?_

I tried to stand up, realizing that I was lying face up on one of the cold, metallic hospital beds of the battle station. Confused, I tried again to move, but once more my body didn't respond to what I wanted it to do. Even opening my mouth to ask for help seemed impossible for me to do.

That was when I realized I was completely paralyzed.

Fear seized control over me, and I wanted to scream, but I still couldn't open my mouth, so my cries for help remained mine to behold.

The weird thing through the whole thing, though, was my eyes seemed to be out of control, as if someone else were pulling them to work them into the direction that they needed to look at. I involuntarily witnessed what appeared to be Schmerz's torture room, and my panic skyrocketed to levels beyond my ability to stop.

_Oh, no, what is he going to do to me? _I asked, realizing that I wasn't even able to say anything out loud, and they were merely my thoughts.

_This can't be happening to me! Where's Sara? Where's Shu? Sis? Anyone? Why am I here again? I was in Zari-Bars! We were safe for once! But then…what happened?_

I tried to figure out what had landed me back in the one place no human being ever deserves to reside in, but my memory was hazy. I recalled the time I had been up against somebody named Kazam and that it had something to do with a baby. Whose baby was it? Why was I thinking about Sara at the same time? There was no way that she would ever get pregnant, at least not yet. We were saving our virginity for each other, and she was as adamant about protecting it as I was until that day. Why was I even thinking about that at all? What did it have to do with anything? Why was I there?

My eyes shifted to the left, revealing Schmerz, who was laughing manically as he sharpened a medical knife, which seemed as if it were meant for me. Schmerz grinned when he placed the knife right beside a stack of sterilized scalpels on a towel, each more intimidating than the next.

The door opened and my eyes turned to see who was entering the room, and I got quite the surprise when I saw Sara practically naked and in chains being pushed forward by Hamdo, who was wearing an elegant black crown, and holding a mighty scepter in his right hand. Hamdo was laughing as well, and he seemed to take much pleasure in the fact that Sara was being treated in such an abominable fashion.

Hatred for him filled my heart, and I focused all of my mind on finding some way to get up and save Sara, but it seemed that nothing I did could ever allow me to push me up and over to her direction, no matter how much I so desperately wanted to. Cursing the man who'd treated Sara that way, I cringed inwardly, trying not to look at her, because all it did was drive my mind blind with righteous fury. However, the entity that had in some way gained supreme control of my eyes deemed it necessary for me to witness my broken girlfriend, the only woman I could ever say I loved more than anything else in the world just lying there on the floor, weeping her eyes out over what I could only assume was the result of what had happened to her since I'd blacked out.

"My, my," Hamdo said, snickering. "It seems he really was easy to take down after all. Such a pitiful human being."

"He was not!" Sara protested, continuing to wail on the floor. "He was the only one who helped me through everything I went through here! Why did he have to die? He only wanted to get us back home!"

"Quiet, girl!" Hamdo yelled as he slapped Sara to the ground hard. "When I ask you to speak, you shall, but not now!"

Sara whimpered on the ground.

I watched as my eyes drifted to the ceiling, where a humongous light blinded me, allowing me to dwell on only one thing: What Sara had just revealed about my current state of existence.

I had died.

How was this possible? What was I missing out on? Had something happened that I just couldn't remember that had caused me to die? Was I having a dream? Were dreams usually this lucid? What was going on?

Had the heart attack really killed me this time?

I froze—well, as much as a dead body can freeze…yeah, I know, that's a terrible joke to make and I apologize—wondering if it were possible. What had happened right before I blacked out? Who was Kazam and why was I mad at him? What did it have to do with a child and why was Sara on my mind when it came to that child?

What was going on? I didn't understand any of this.

And then the strangest thing happened…I kept seeing these Bible verses appear over my head, which, to tell you the truth, freaks me out in a way I don't think I will ever be able to fully understand. Okay, there's really no way I can't describe this whole ordeal without getting all trippy on you, because really, I have wondered about my sanity, or why someone would even let something like this blatant happen at all, so here goes: There were four of them in all, saying such things as:

_So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. _

_Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. _

_The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, H_e _restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake._ _Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows._ _Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. _

_Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. _

I had no idea what was going on then, mostly because, well, who in their right mind could possibly understand something like that? I barely get it now, and I've had more than enough time to think about it.

Someone was trying to send me a message and they were doing it in a less than subtle way. Turns out subtlety never was one of my strong points.

My eyes suddenly flashed to my left and all thoughts of what the heck was going on with the verses left my mind completely, as I witnessed a horrific sight: The vivisected body of Shuzo Matsutani. I wanted to shake, to scream in terror, or to do something that showed I cared about what had happened to a dear friend, but nothing, as usual for the dream, happened.

I was completely helpless and mortified.

Sara continued to sob to my right, and I tried to force my eyes to look over in her direction, but they moved over to Hamdo, who now had Abelia behind him, looking as if her greatest hope had been torn away from her forever. She always looked somewhat somber, but this time she looked absolutely depressed. Her usual purple and well-kept hair had fallen to disrepair, almost as if a certain dictator had taken it from her in one of his many attacks.

"Don't you see, my little pawns, it was he who allowed this victory for me to come to pass?" Hamdo said, accentuating each word with glee. "Because of his inability to act the way he should have, I was granted complete control of the world. Nothing he could do or planned managed to stop me the moment he died. Did you know that he had a plan to take me down if he were to ever enter _Hellywood _again? It was quite ingenious, but he never got the chance to use it, proving that I was much better fit to rule this world than the God he so proclaimed the praises of. Well, at least he used to that is."

Hamdo laughed, holding his ides as if he had just said the funniest joke in human history. Abelia cringed, as she tried not to look at my body, which I found had been just as desecrated as Shu's, except it seemed that whoever had been in charge of my personal mutilation had done so in a way that showed more hatred. While Shu's corpse had been vivisected cleanly, my body looked as if a wild boar had gained a hold of me and ripped me from the inside out.

Quite unsettling to see to say the least.

Then my eyes returned to where Sara was, and whatever sanity I had left seemed to die the moment I noted the severity of her wounds. Her right eye had been slashed off by what appeared to be a razor, which my eyes clarified by moving over to the blade that sat in Hamdo's belt, allowing me to know who'd take it from her and quite recently it had seemed. All over Sara's body were slashes from what looked like a macabre combination of Hamdo's fingernails, knives, and whatever sharp objects he had nearby when he had assaulted her body at that moment. My eyes turned to Hamdo's hands, which proved the fingernail theory when I found out that they had all been reduced to stumps from the attacks. A quick glance in Abelia's direction proved that she had been a victim as well. My eyes shifted back to Sara just as suddenly as they had moved away, revealing the lower portion of her body had been assaulted in ways even more horrible than getting one's eye taken or having one's body get slashes by all sorts of deadly devices. Ways that Sara had only gone through twice before. My eyes turned over to the giggling Hamdo, who revealed in the gleam of his eyes who had dealt the damage to Sara once again.

"I wonder where his God is now," Hamdo pondered. "Perhaps He never existed at all and this vermin was merely making Him up the entire time. It matters not, does it, my Lala-Ru?"

Hamdo turned around to reveal a wounded and battered Lala-Ru, whose hair had turned into a muddy brown, and her skin into what seemed like a fountain of red veins.

Even though I knew I wouldn't be able to, I tried shutting my eyes, unwilling to see anything else, but they remained open and I watched as Hamdo bent down to Lala-Ru and clutched the pendant.

"With this I have gained complete mastery of the world and all who live in it," he said with that signature maniacal grin. "With this I have the power to do whatever I want to in this misbegotten realm. I have become God Himself!"

Cackling, Hamdo pulled at his chains as he turned his back to me, dragging with him Lala-Ru, Abelia, and Sara, who tried to escape, but the bonds were much too tight for any such thing to happen.

"No!" Sara cried out, trying to hold her arms out to my body.

"Enough!" Hamdo yelled, as he grabbed Sara by the neck. "I've wasted my time with you enough, little girl! Farewell!"

I didn't even have time to think before it happened right in front of me. Hamdo took both his hands around Sara's neck and twisted it, killing her instantly. Seeing that he had succeeded in his efforts, Hamdo threw Sara to the ground and left the room with both Abelia and Lala-Ru, who gave me one last look, as if hoping I could rise up and save them.

_NO! _I wanted to shout out. _NO YOU CAN'T HAVE HER, HAMDO! I'LL KILL YOU! GIVE HER BACK TO ME! YOU CAN'T KILL SARA!_

"Bold words from a child who doesn't know himself," a voice that sounded very similar to my own said.

I tracked the voice with my eyes, which now seemed to function perfectly to my every whim, eventually finding its source sitting on a desk some five feet away from the operating table I was on. I gasped aloud when I saw who it was, unable to comprehend his appearance.

I was looking at myself.

The other me stared at me as if slightly amused. He checked me over, noting each of my broken features.

Clicking his tongue, he said, "You truly are a pathetic man, Matthew Soterios Kind."

"I—I'm what?" I said, barely noting that I was in control of my mouth once more.

The other me hopped off the desk and examined the corpse that had once been Sara, clicking his tongue in that annoying way of his as he did so. "Such a shame this," he said, shaking his head. "Easily preventable too."

"Who the hell are you?" I asked, trying to deal with all my emotions at once.

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked. "I'm you."

I looked at him wondering if he thought I was mentally handicapped. Of course I knew that he looked like me.

"I mean besides that!" I roared, temper flaring.

He clicked his tongue anew, furthering my anger. "Oh, how do I explain this to such a simpleton?" he asked himself as he reclined on a chair, looking like a misbegotten psychiatrist. "Well, in layman's terms, I am you, but I'm the better part of you, while you represent the worst right now. It's quite simple really."

"What?"

He sighed. "You're bad you; I'm good you. Call me Matt-Prime for now, but that may change depending on how you react to all this."

"I still don't get it," I said, shaking my head as if expecting that could help me make things clearer.

"Well of course you don't right now, but you will when all's said and done," Matt-Prime said, smiling at me.

"What just happened out there? Why can't I remember what happened to me?"

"Because I haven't let you remember. You don't deserve to know yet. Not until you figure things out."

"How am I supposed to figure things out if I can't even remember everything that happened to me!" I shouted.

"You could start by not yelling so much, because all you're doing is causing your heart in the real world to get that much closer to death," Matt-Prime noted, clicking his tongue again.

"Would you stop that?"

"Stop what?"

"That stupid tongue thing."

"Why?"

"Because it's annoying me!"

Smirking, Matt-Prime continued clicking his tongue. "I won't until you learn. Only then will I stop."

"Fine," I said, trying and failing to throw my hands in the air, "what do I need to do to learn, O wise one?"

"It's simple really, you've just got to learn what you already know."

"Because that makes so much sense."

"Good, then I'm glad we can agree."

I groaned. Apparently my double didn't understand sarcasm.

"Oh, I do, I just choose to ignore it to get things rolling," he said, clicking his tongue.

"I'm not even going to bother this time. What is it that I should know and that I need to relearn?"

"Just a couple important things you've been raging at lately. You know, hating God, hating the world, and giving in to your extensive anger."

"And why shouldn't I do all those things? Since you're me, then you do know what He's put me through."

"Well I should certainly hope so, Matt. It's important that the both of us do, or we might lose everything. Well, I really should say you, but it's not nearly time yet to do so."

"Okay, since you have all the answers here, why don't you tell me why I should be a-okay with the Big Man and what He's done to me?"

"Do you really think I have all the answers, Matt?" he asked, clicking his tongue. "I'm still you, so how could I know everything? I'm just as fallible as you are."

"You mean you don't?" I asked. "Then what good are you?"

"You might want to retract that, Matt, seeing as I am you."

"I would never be this cryptic or annoying."

"Which is exactly why you don't understand yet. Here, let me help you out just a little bit. I am the metaphorical side of you, the one that represents everything you should be and know, because I get things, even when I don't. I understand certain facets of this life that others don't, even when I myself have no clue."

I managed to get my right arm up to rub my temples. This hurt my head in so many ways, I didn't know if I would ever be able to think again.

"Okay, let me get this straight, Matt-Prime," I said, pausing for a moment to gather my thoughts. "You are a part of me, but we've been separated for some reason beyond my understanding to tell me something that I need to figure out. Obviously this whole thing has to do with my doubts, so let's deal with that first."

"Indeed, such a wonderful thought," he said, smiling.

"How can I believe in a God that treats Sara, Shu, me, and everyone else beneath Him like dirt? I saw that last verse you showed—I'm guessing that was you—and it said in such a wonderful fashion that 'God is love,' so tell me, Matt-Prime, how can God be love if this is the way He treats us? Why is life so hard?"

"An excellent question. You are progressing in your mental processes. Now I have a question to ask first: Where did God ever say that life wouldn't be hard?"

I paused, knowing no such sentence had ever appeared in scripture. "Nowhere?"

"Don't say it like it's a question, kid. Mean it."

"Nowhere," I said, still unsure.

"And why is it nowhere?" he asked.

"I don't know, maybe because He didn't want us looking at the fine print."

Matt-Prime rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue. "Wrong answer. Because we had our chance and we blew it. One thing, Matt, we had _one thing_ we weren't supposed to do, and what did we do?"

It took me a moment to realize the question wasn't rhetorical. "We did it."

"Exactly, and do you know what happened after that?"

"Sin came into the world."

"Precisely, but why?"

"Because Adam and Eve disobeyed."

"Somewhat right, but you only mention two people. There are others involved as well."

"The Serpent?"

"True, but we're not after him right now."

"Then who could it be?"

"Humanity itself, Matt," Matt-Prime said, clicking his tongue. "By disobeying God once, our forefathers allowed us all to suffer the consequences. Is this unfair?"

"Uh, yeah it kinda is," I said.

"Wrong again. Fair is getting what you deserve. Fair is God destroying Adam and Eve for defying Him and never bothering to start over again with humanity. Fair is living in a world filled with death and destruction we have almost no control over. But life isn't always fair, is it?"

"Yes, I know, He let Jesus come to take everyone's sins, and that makes it okay for everything bad to happen because God gave us all the chance for salvation."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"People getting hurt isn't a bad thing? People dying, getting murdered, suffering from starvation and the loss of the sun, and people getting…raped isn't bad? Man if that's the real worldview, I really don't want what you're smoking right now. You can keep the Kool-Aid, man."

"Flavor Aid."

"Huh?" I asked.

"The incident you were referring to involved Flavor Aid, not Kool-Aid," Matt-Prime announced.

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

He shrugged. "Probably nothing, but you do seem to be drinking your distinct brand of it whenever you go out and say things like, 'I believe in God' or 'I don't really believe in God at all.' You really don't get it, do you? What this is all about?"

"This is about my doubts! I don't know why these things are happening to me and I need answers, so I'm somehow having a conversation with myself about all these things because of something that made me black out!"

"True enough, but you're still wrong in some areas. This is to encourage your own doubt, Matt. Doubt is the greatest tool we have in this awful world."

"How does that make sense?" I asked, furling an eyebrow. "Wouldn't I want to be perfectly content in knowing what's true and what's not?"

"Ideally yes, but as long as we're on this earth there are no such things as being 'perfectly content' or any such variation thereof," Matt-Prime said. "You see, Matt, you can't even know if I'm telling the truth, because I'm just like you: _I don't know_. I'm just offering what you've always thought was truth, and hoping you find the correct way to that truth. We can't know on this earth; we're not God, if He exists that is."

I massaged my temples again, wondering if I wasn't developing thirty different aneurysms at once. "You're saying that you don't even know the answers and that even if I agree with you there's not guarantee I'm right?"

He nodded. "Well put."

"Then what is the point of all this?"

"I don't follow."

"If I don't wake up with the knowledge of what life is all about, then Hamdo's going to take over the world!" I shouted, my heart practically ready to jump out of my body.

"Wow, you are dumb."

"Huh?"

"What, did you think that you were that important that the fate of the entire world depended on your actions?" Matt-Prime asked, almost unable to contain his laughter. "That is hilarious, man. You really thought that, didn't you? Wow that is pathetic, I mean really pathetic, Matt. What I showed you was just a dramatization, you idiot. Sometimes I don't get you, man. You really are stupid."

"Don't call me stupid!"

"I shall until you truly grasp what you've already believed."

I sighed, allowing my weak mind to calm my body down, as I tried a start a new approach to this problem. "Okay, maybe I am putting too much importance in myself right now, but it's only because you led me to believe I was needed to save everyone from Hamdo in the earlier part of this dream-thing."

He clicked his tongue, mulling over my words. "Yeah, I could see how what I did could do that to you. I apologize."

"Um, apology accepted."

"Splendid. Now what?"

I absentmindedly pushed myself up to think about an answer. "What do you think I should do?"

Matt-Prime smiled, and seemed to be getting closer to me. "Here's what I have to say to you, Matt: Think about what you want the most in this world and find a way to make sure that what you want isn't tarnished. If you fail, then you did all you could to stop it, but just because it looks like you've failed completely, it doesn't mean that you really have. We have setbacks to our wants and needs, Matt, and they always seem like they can't be overcome, but find what empowers you and continued to seek the things you need to find your path in this world. It won't be fun all the time, but neither will everything be horrible.

"You lost access to your home, along with the woman you love more than every other one out there, and you tried to protect her, hoping to keep her away from harm, but that didn't work, and she was tortured in ways no woman should ever go through. But you both fought back and escaped, finding strength in each other to keep moving on in the hopes that at least you could be safe. Later you found Sis, who gave you all the love of a mother you can never go back home to, and managed to find a home, but then once again bad things happened, leading to our current situation. You learned that Sara was pregnant and that she wasn't able to speak with you yet, so you came up with an idea that seemed brilliant at the time, but only caused more pain as your heart almost gave out on you. Then you wake up to find the next attack will be your last, and that everything that had happened to you over the past few months wasn't fantasy, so you blacked out, which allowed me to come through to help us become whole again.

"You're right, I don't have all the answers, and we never will, but what we need to do, is move on, accept reality, and face it as one man who wishes to do what needs to be done to save the people we love.

"Matt, we need to become whole again. We need to save Sara from making a mistake. She's left us thinking we're as good as dead. Matt, she's not in the right mind, we have to save her from doing something she'll eternally regret."

He extended his hand out to me, smiling as a brilliant light appeared behind him.

I smirked, laughing inwardly at the cliché, but I accepted his hand, nonetheless, waking up in a world that would test my ability to remain whole the moment I did so.

* * *

I rose from the bed I was laying on in Sis's house, as I noticed the sweat covering my body in its putrid odor. Rubbing my eyes to get rid of the sand, I realized that the sun had set and that all of Sis's children were asleep beside me.

_Sara, _I reminded myself.

Frantically I searched the room for Sara, but I couldn't locate her. Soon moaned in the darkness, mentioning her father by name in her sleep, and sending chills down my spine. Sara's bed had obviously had someone in it just a few minutes beforehand, as it showed signs of someone laying down on it, so that told me she was somewhere nearby, or at the very least closer than it seemed.

_Where would she go?_ I asked. _Why?_

I searched my mind for answers as I quietly got up and descended the stairs, hoping that Sara was waiting for me there, but finding no such hope spot. Sighing to myself, I surveyed the crevices of my memories for some better idea, inadvertently answering myself with the crevice description.

_He said that Sara was going to do something she'll eternally regret, _I told myself. _Does that mean she's going to kill—She's going to kill herself and the baby! Where could she do that without being seen? _

I scanned the room for ideas, finding the jug that the children normally took to the water caves to get our daily allotment of the precious resource.

_The caves! _I realized. _There's never anyone there, so she has plenty of room to do it without anyone finding out until it's too late!_

I glided out the doorway—but not before I grabbed my taser on a whim—and not once caring about the state of my heart, because I knew if I didn't get there soon enough, then Sara would kill herself and I'd always live with the guilt.

It turns out that I didn't need to run as fast as I'd thought.

A/N: Well, next chapter will focus on one of the best scenes of the entire show, with a couple tweaks added by yours truly. This should be here by Friday or late weekend, depending on how my other ideas are making me obsess over them. Until next time, my friends.


	22. Chapter 22

A/N: Finally finished this one, so here goes. Please let me know if there's anything that needs to come to my attention. Thanks in advance.

Chapter 22

_Please let me get there in time, _I begged a God I now half-believed in. _I have to get there in time. I can't let Sara to do this to herself. She's not in the right mind. She needs to have someone there to help her._

The biggest problem I've had with prayer is that sometimes it seems like it's just a one-way conversation, and it feels like you're basically talking to yourself. It's not the greatest feeling to ever have, especially when someone's life is on the line and you need that extra reassurance that you can reach them in time to stop them from making a fatal mistake, but it all boils down to whether you believe there's someone listening in on what you have to say. I can't tell you with absolute certainty that someone does. I've come to the point in my life where it looks like maybe there is someone out there who listens and genuinely cares about what we have to say. Faith's a fickle feeling like that.

The streets of Zari-Bars were deserted, just like they were every night, and all the lights were turned off, mostly in order to prevent any possible enemies from discovering our location. However, since Kazam's news of _Hellywood's_ possible fate, lots of citizens appeared to be a bit more lax than usual, something we really didn't need to have.

I jumped over a rock in the middle of the street that I barely managed to avoid, as my mind was a bit preoccupied at the time on other interests besides my own safety. Sara and keeping her safe dominated my mind, which was about as useful as it was downright stupid. People have accused me all the time of having a "one-track mind," something I've learned is absolutely true the majority of the time. Once something becomes evident that it needs to be done as soon as possible, everything else seems to lose its importance to me, and I charge on ahead without thinking too hard about things or the consequences of my actions.

The caves were a little bit far from Sis's home, but I was making good time by my tenacious running, which ignored every bit of pain I had in my body, which thankfully did not include my heart, but I knew that if I didn't reach her in time, it would inevitably flare up and kill me.

I didn't know what I felt about dying. I'd had plenty of time to ponder on the idea back home when I was still relatively safe, but that's probably why I didn't dwell on it that much. Dying was something you did when you were fifty and above, and all of my doctors had told me that was the most likely point in my life that my heart would give out on me, so I trusted their judgment. The catch was I couldn't be involved in anything too rigorous, which suited me just fine, seeing as how I had no plans to ever "rough it out" later on in my life. But everything that had happened to me had changed the natural flow of events in my life. I was supposed to live a carefree life going to college, end up getting married, having about six or so kids, and live as an engineer. Yeah, like that was ever going to happen to me now.

_Hellywood_ had changed that, just like everything else it tended to mess with. Now my life expectancy had gone from fifty plus to just about nineteen. My next step could be my last, my next conversation the finale, or maybe when I just happened to have a stress-filled day I end up dying from the strain. I was a ticking time bomb that had no set limit, especially not with all that was going on, but I couldn't let that stop me, not even for one second. Maybe I would die, but if I did, I planned to make it worthwhile. I was going to make my last act on this desolate earth one that lasted through the generations, if they were able to live past this moment. Not that I actually thought I was going to die, but I had just made up my mind to make it good if I did.

The cave entrance stood in front of me, and I panted, trying to regain control over my ability to breathe, as I noticed the guard the village had always placed to keep watch over the water inside the caves was fast asleep. Who hires an incompetent man like this to guard your most precious resource? He'd just let Sara by him in the dead of night and could have possibly allowed her to kill herself, and why? Because he was asleep on the job.

Keeping my anger to myself, I dashed past him, not once alerting the man to my presence, and descended into the caves, hoping and praying that I wasn't too late.

I heard the sounds of an argument the moment I got halfway down the stairs and made out a guy and a girl by the way they sounded. I caught snippets of what appeared to be "baby" and "no" or some other words I couldn't figure out. I kept my pace down the stairs and placed my back up against the wall as I looked out to see Sara yelling at Shu, surprising me in how everything had turned out. I hadn't thought to look for him or for anyone else for that matter when I'd found out that Sara had gone. Maybe if I'd stayed behind I could've brought Sis to help me, but with how things ended up, I'm grateful that this was how things worked out.

Shu was staring up at Sara, who had that mad gleam in her eye that proved every though I'd had about her once I'd left Sis's home: She was there to kill herself, and Shu had obviously prevented her first attempt, given his haggard appearance and the shape of his bruised hand. It looked like the rock covered in blood next to Sara had been the one who had given Shu his wounds. Sara was crying, as Shu stared into her eyes.

"You won't even allow me to die?" Sara asked, sniffling. "Why?" She paused. "How can I go on like this?"

I almost jumped out of my hiding spot then and there, but something tugged at me in my mind, telling me not to do it yet, so I listened and waited, as I looked to see what Shu would do to rebut her questions.

Shu straightened himself up and looked forward. "I have no way of knowing what kind of terrible things you've been through," he said, struggling to keep the worry off of his face, but he failed miserably and bent forward. "And I'm really sorry that I don't understand, but I—"

Sara interrupted him, looking as pitiful as a wounded deer caught in a bear trap. "You're sorry? Then why can't you just leave me alone!"

She grew closer to him with a savage look in her eyes, which made Shu quite upset.

I questioned myself, wondering why I was spying on the conversation instead of just going out there and helping Shu convince Sara to live, but that same voice in the back of my mind told me all I'd end up doing then would be to make things worse. I needed to wait until the right time and reveal what I'd been thinking about to Sara if she was unable to come to terms with herself.

"Leave me alone!" Sara whined, as her head drooped, still crying.

"Sara, what…what I meant to say is…" Shu started, but then he pulled his right hand back to scratch the right side of his head. "I know I don't know anything and I can't really help you, but…Sara…please don't kill yourself."

"Shu…just let me go. There's no way I'll ever accomplish anything I've wanted to do. I've lost everything…my dad, my friends, and now Matt's going to die. There's nothing any of us can do. One more attack and he's dead. I can't go on without him. He's the only reason why I've been able to make it this far."

I sighed, wishing Sara would give herself more credit for her ability to hold onto hope, but knew she wasn't willing to listen to that part of her life just yet.

"If this is all there is for me…I wish that I had never been born!" Sara declared, making me cringe.

I made a decision that instant: I was going to go out there in the middle of the water and rocks right then and tell her that she wasn't going to die and that she deserved to live, no matter what she thought. I was going to make things right between us.

But before I could reveal myself, Shu yelled out the word, "No!" and slapped Sara across the face, surprising me with his ferocity and strength.

Sara winced for a moment, seemed to realize what had just happened to her, and massaged the wound, probably wondering just like I was why Shu, who was normally a very docile and go with the flow kind of guy, had just hit her.

"How could you say that?" Shu asked, standing over Sara, who was still trying to recover from the shock of being hit by probably the last person any of us ever expected to engage in physical violence. "If you die now, that's it! "It's all over! That baby you're carrying is a new life—A second chance! Can't you see!"

He started to tear up and I took an involuntary step back, as his words filled my ears. It had become apparent to me a long time ago that Shu had no "inside voice" when it came to trying to get people to believe in him and what he said. It's one of his best features and something I really like about him, but it's one thing to describe his natural ability than to actually experience it firsthand. He has this charisma that lets you know that things are okay, and that just because they suck, it doesn't mean life's over. He's…a very powerful young man. Naïve, no doubt, but a powerful young man, nonetheless.

_Can't you see he's right, Sara? _I thought, wishing it was the right time to come out and speak with her. _You can't give up yet—You've got to live! _

But those words remained in my mind, never once coming out of my mouth, much to my dismay. Why was I holding back? Why couldn't I just go out there and tell Sara the way I felt? Why did I care if the moment was right or not? How was I supposed to know when the moment was right?

Shu suddenly grabbed Sara in a tight hug, as he continued to speak, "A second chance for you!"

Sara cringed as he held her in his arms and tried to fight him off of her, but he maintained his tight embrace.

"Don't die!" he shouted. "Don't die! Don't die!"

And then the beginning of Sara's potential end happened: She pushed Shu away and bit his right shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain. While the pain momentarily incapacitated him, Sara took the rock that she had used earlier to attack herself and smashed it against his side, causing Shu to cry out once more in agony and curl into a tight ball to deal with his pain, leaving Sara the chance to get away from him.

"Don't die!" Shu continued to yell, fazing Sara for a moment, but it fell flat a second later when she picked up the rock and stared at her abdomen.

Looking back over at Shu, Sara eyed him and his constant attempts to deal with the blow she'd inflicted on him. She looked like she might give up her attempt and go over to apologize to him and help him bandage his wounds.

But the mind sees what it wants to, rather than what actually happens sometimes.

Sara instead took the rock and jammed into her belly, letting me know she was going after the baby first.

_It's now or never, Matt,_ I told myself, knowing somehow that the moment was right to come out.

"Sara, wait!" I cried out, holding back tears. "Don't do it!"

Frightened by the sudden interruption, Sara dropped the stone into the water, which caused it to create a large splash, most of which landed on Sara's face, and then blended in with her tears. She looked at me for a moment, trying to figure out if I was really there or whether I was some godforsaken hallucination brought on by her stress. Her face quivered every now and then to show me that she was still alive, but other than that she looked like a petrified statue of a woman in duress.

"It's…It's really you, Matt?" she asked with uncertainty.

"Yes, yes it is, Sara," I said, daring to approach her, hoping that my luck was still manageable and wiling to help me out.

"You shouldn't be here! You should be resting! What if you have an attack? It'll be the last one! You'll die!"

I grimaced and looked into her eyes. "Then that's a risk I'm willing to take, Sara."

"Stay back!" she cried out. "Don't come near me! Not like this!"

I paused, wishing there was less of a distance between us.

"You can't see me like this!" Sara continued to rant. "I didn't want you to see it, Matt. Go away."

Frowning, I took a step closer to her, causing her to flinch. "Sara, do you want to die?" I asked, knowing the last option the macabre section of my mind had suggested was about to occur.

"I…I…yes I do. I can't live without you, Matt. Not like this. We were supposed to be okay and living at home, but now you're going to die. Not like this."

I tried and failed to let my tear ducts closed, and a fresh batch of salty water fell from my eyes. "And I can't live without you, Sara," I said, drawing close to her. "If you die, then I don't know what I'd do with myself. Sara, you're the reason I exist."

Sara's bottom lip quivered, while she let loose some more tears. I vaguely heard Shu moving to my right, but I ignored him.

"You're right, Sara," I said, finally reaching her. "I am going to die and likely very soon with everything I've been through, but that doesn't mean I have to kill myself to make it come quicker. We've got to be strong, Sara."

"But I'm not strong!" Sara shouted. "I can't do this anymore! I've had enough! I want to die and never deal with any of this again!"

I frowned for a moment, looked her in the eyes, and hugged her, saying, "Then let's go together."

"What?" Sara asked, trying to figure out if she wanted to get out of my embrace. "What do you mean together?"

I pulled away from Sara and showed her the taser I'd taken from _Hellywood_. "If we use this, we'll die together, right here, right now, Sara."

Sara looked around, figuring out that I meant shooting the taser into the water, which would electrocute the both of us, more than likely killing us within seconds. Not the worst way to die, but better than some others I can think of.

"Sara, I love you and I can't live without you, so if you want to kill yourself, then I come with you," I said, placing the taser into her hands. "But you've got to be the one who shoots it."

"No!" Shu shouted from behind us, almost ruining my plan. "Don't do it!"

"Stay out of this, Shu!" I yelled back at him, as I turned to look at him and offered a wink, letting him know I had something else in mind. "This doesn't concern you!"

Seeing my body language, Shu backed down and sat there watching us, as he most likely wondered what was going on in my head.

To tell the truth I only had a vague idea of what I wanted to do. If my plan worked that night, then we both lived, but if it didn't, we were dead. I could deal with any of the choices made, so long as Sara and I were together.

"Right now we're standing in the middle of the water, Sara," I said, brining her attention back to me. "If you fire this taser into the water, we get electrocuted and die together. If you don't shoot it, then we make do with what we have and live on."

Sara stared at me for a moment, wondering if I was speaking the truth, which I corroborated by showing her how to properly pull the trigger.

"I want to be with you forever, Sara, and if that means forever in death, than that is what I will accept," I continued. "But please let me tell you that I want you to live, even if I go away forever. You've got two souls living in you now, and it's not fair to them that they don't get a chance to have their say in the matter. But I will always be able to understand if you pull the trigger, sweetheart. I love you, Sara."

I reached over and kissed her, hoping that if she did fire the taser, at least I could say I died holding the woman I loved most in the world in my arms with no regrets. But then time passed and the water remained the same, and a certain blonde had taken to kissing me back, the taser slipped back into one of my pockets. Eventually, though, we pulled away, and she and I broke into more tears.

"Matt, oh God what did I just try to do?" Sara wailed, as I reached for her and held her tight. "I almost killed us!"

"It's okay, Sara, it's okay," I said, stroking her hair, and knowing that she was slowly going to be better. "I'm here and I'm never leaving again."

"But what about—?"

"It doesn't matter. I promise you I won't let it happen, not unless it needs to. But you will never see me about to die because of a heart attack ever again. I'm going to beat the odds and live the rest of my life with you, no matter what happens."

Sara gave a nervous laugh. "I wish I could be as strong as you, you damn fool."

"You just proved how strong you are when you didn't pull the trigger, sweetheart. You're much stronger than you think you are and this proves it."

"But what about everything that's happened to us? I'm still…pregnant. I can't be a mother this early! It's too soon!"

I pushed her away to look her in the face. "I can't make a promise to you that says no one's ever going to hurt you again, because it will happen, but I can make this one to you, Sara: Whatever you decide is best about the baby, I will always be there to assist you and be there for you. We've started this race with a bumpy start, sweetheart, but now I say it's time to finish strong."

"Have I ever told you how much I love the concerned look on your face when you tell me something like this?"

"You what?" I asked, unable to understand the sudden change in conversation.

Sara smiled. "Whenever your face gets like that, it always has the same look: The one that tells me that even if you don't know how to deal with all the things that happen to us, you're always going to do what's right for the both of us. I love that look; it makes me feel safe."

"I, uh, I…thanks, Sara."

I leaned in to kiss her and connected a moment later, allowing us to say anything else that was on our minds without speaking aloud. Somehow, someway, I'd been able to convince her to live. Well, I can't take all the credit, seeing as someone else got there first to deal with the problem.

Pulling away from the kiss, I turned to Shu, who was watching us both with an odd look on his face, one that told me he was just as surprised as I was that things had turned out this way.

"Thanks, Shu," I said, walking with Sara through the water to reach him. "If it wasn't for you, I might not have made it in time to stop her."

I extended my hand to him, and he took it, but yelled out once I grabbed him completely and hugged him, knowing how important he'd been to keeping Sara alive. I let go of him a moment later, apologizing for accidentally aggravating his wounds, but he brushed it aside.

"I'm just glad everything worked out okay," he said, grinning.

Sara looked at him and I could see in her eyes that she was worried about an issue I hadn't planned for once this was over with. "I don't know if I can see her again," she said plainly. "I don't know what I'll do if I see her again. I might…I might try to do this again."

_Lala-Ru,_ I thought, sighing, as I wrapped an arm around Sara's back.

"Then we'll leave the village," Shu said. "I'll take Lala-Ru and we'll go out into the desert. She'll be able to find us a new home."

I marveled at his self-sacrifice, knowing I'd never have acted the same way when I was his age. This kid was full of surprises, and I didn't know how to deal with all of them.

"You are something else, kid," I said, smiling. "How did you get to be so dang amazing?"

Shu grinned, actually letting Sara lighten up as well. "I don't know any other way to act."

"Come on, Shu, let's get back to Sis's and patch up those wounds."

Nodding, Shu got off of the rock he was on and went into the water, careful to keep his wounds from polluting the precious resource.

We walked together up the cave, finding that our shouting had never once awakened the watchman, who was too busy snoring to notice us as we passed by him. I didn't mind, not one bit, because things might've gone different if he'd woken up. I can guess that if there were an alternate world out there where I never existed, then maybe Sara could've gotten out of this ordeal with only Shu to help her. Either way, all I knew then was that I had Sara back and that we were going to tough things out together as a team. No matter what happened, we would always be together to make up for each other's faults and to fight any troubles that came our way.

Come the next day, that's exactly what we did.

A/N: Alright, next chapter will deal with the fallout from this chapter and the perils brought on by the knowledge of Lala-Ru's existence inside of Zari-Bars. Until next time.


	23. Chapter 23

A/N: Hello again, everyone. Finally finished this chapter. I was going to keep writing it, but then I noticed the length and decided to move some of it to the next chapter, which should be up by Friday or Saturday, depending on what happens. I am going home this weekend to resupply for this semester, so there's no telling what will happen. Please let me know what I need to do to make this better or to help correct it. Thank you very much.

Chapter 23

In order to keep Sara's fragile sanity intact, Shu and I entered the house first, so we could locate Lala-Ru and prevent her from being seen by Sara. Lala-Ru seemed a little ticked that she had to be moved, but understood the reasons why, and agreed to hide in the storage room as I went back to bring Sara inside the house.

Sis, remarkably, was still asleep, which surprised me, as the four of us had not gone into the house or moved around in the most quiet of fashions, my lack of natural night vision proving to be the biggest problem to our plans. I swear I might as well be blind when night falls. I crash into every single thing in my path, causing so much noise I might as well just shout out my presence to the world. It was how my mother always knew when I was sneaking out of bed to do something I shouldn't be doing back home.

But Sis didn't wake up so I took Sara upstairs, staying by her side at her request in order to help her go back to sleep. Amazingly she succumbed to sleep just within a few seconds of lying down, leaving me the only one upstairs who was awake. Shu and Lala-Ru were no doubt planning their departure from Sis's home, something I wasn't that enthused about to tell the truth. I'd barely known the two of them, but I couldn't help but be drawn to them. Lala-Ru was a little off-putting when you first met her, but once you managed to defrost her a little, she was actually quite sweet. Shu was, well, Shu to be perfectly concise. I may have mentioned this a couple of times before but that little scamp is one of those people you find yourself drawn to by their attitude and beliefs. He was a little dumb at certain points, but that's because the moron's got as much willpower to stop himself from rushing off into life or death situations as I do. Still, it's that facet of his personality that's so endearing and makes me wish he were still with us here.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Sara was lying fast asleep on her bed in the top room of Sis's house, along with the fifty or so kids Sis took care of. (Which, of course I'm exaggerating the number, but you try and keep track of how many she took care of. It seemed like there were fifty kids there, but I never figured out the right number, especially after what happened.) I gazed at her in wonder, as I gently stroked her hair, which was slightly growing since she'd taken the majority of it off back when we'd fled _Hellywood_. Even after all she'd gone through, Sara still looked beautiful to me, which was one of the reasons I was attracted to her in the first place: She was a naturally beautiful woman. Other girls used makeup and all that stuff us men don't understand to make themselves look like something they aren't. I won't lie to you, though, because Sara did use some makeup, but in my earnest opinion, she didn't have to, but then again I am biased here, so take that as you will.

Surprisingly I didn't feel tired, despite the fact that I'd just woken up from a coma just a couple hours before, experienced a horrific dream that rebuilt me as best it could, found that the love of my life had left our home in order to try killing herself, and seeing her break down and cry in my arms as we finally reconciled our differences and failures. A normal man would've taken the time in the night to go back to sleep and wait to deal with other problems in the morning, but I'm not most men, mostly because I'm a whole lot dumber. The very idea of sleeping was against what I wanted to do. I wanted to figure out a way to help Sara realize that she didn't need for Shu and Lala-Ru to leave to fully recover, but I couldn't figure out how to tell her that, thus my reasoning for staying up late when I just could've gone to sleep, awakened refreshed, and used my revitalized mind to find a way to help kill both birds with one stone.

Yeah, I never claimed to be the smartest man on Earth.

Seeing no easy answer to my query, I pulled out the device that Abdimalkah had given me—which I had started to think of as the "Doohickey Thingamabob That Tells Me Stuff," but settled on "Future Bible" to save time and prevent anyone from asking how I even came up with the former name, which I still didn't get myself to be perfectly honest—and turned it on, finding that it was flipping through several chapters seemingly at random. I was puzzled by this feature and wondered why it was acting like that, just as I started to gradually understand it: It reacted to my thoughts. When I thought of the word "acted," it brought me to the Book of Acts, and the same thing happened to anything else I happened to be thinking about. Apparently the future societies of this world can design a device that lets you find things based on thoughts, yet can't organize themselves in a constructive way to solve the water problem. What a world.

I calmed my mind down, but ended up thinking about James Garfield for some reason, and I found myself looking at a holographic representation of the Book of James, specifically the first chapter. Shrugging to myself, I ended up reading it out of boredom more than anything else, finding a major issue within the second and third verses of the first chapter:_ Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance._

_Pure joy during trials, eh? _I thought, rereading the verses to be sure I'd read them correctly. _How cheerful. _

But then I looked away from it and rested my eyes on Sara, who was breathing softly as she slept. I certainly hadn't felt any joy watching her go through everything that she'd undergone and never once had I been any sense of the word while I was the one who was getting beaten for just being a rational human being in a world that offered very few examples of rationality.

I read on: _Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything._

I could see the truth in that statement once I read the verses in context with each other. The only reason Sara and I were alive right then was because of perseverance, and then some on our parts and the parts of people who'd helped us on our way. Both of us were certainly more mature than when we'd first come to this world, but complete, that I didn't feel had happened yet. I certainly didn't feel anything near being complete.

Shrugging again, I read once more: _But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does._

_Ouch, James, _I thought, feeling as if the long-dead Apostle was speaking to me from beyond the grave. _Speak bluntly why don't we?_

Which, to tell you the truth, is the main reason I love that particular book of the Bible, because James speaks in a plain language that gets very blunt when it needs to be, unlike other books which get into some wild and crazy poetic things I barely understand, even with the little notes at the bottom that supposedly put it in perspective. Very few times in reading this wonderful book we call the Bible have I ever felt like the author was talking to me specifically and, man does it feel so great to have that feeling. Sara thinks I'm crazy, but I love the feeling. It feels so genuine.

But luckily I thought some more on the subject and decided that that was exactly what I needed to hear from what I was reading. I'd been stupid—yeah, imagine that, me being stupid—in the way I'd handled things. Sure I'd asked for guidance, but did I ever listen, and I mean truly listen? My own weakness in faith had stopped me from being in tune with my prayers and had prevented me from hearing what I needed to hear. But do not get me wrong, doubts are necessary evils to have in this world, and something I tell everyone to embrace, because doubts help us realize who we truly are. However, having doubts in moments like being locked up in _Hellywood_ was not the most opportune time to have them on the mind. I had become the "double-minded man" that was "unstable in all he does."

I mean just look at the wrecks I'd committed to do what I thought was the best idea at the time. Fake having sex while using a recording to make it sound better? Who the hell comes up with that kind of idea? A moron, that's who. Pragmatism doesn't mean that the pragmatic ideas you come up with are the true definition of the word. Sure at the time it sounded like it could work, but really, what was I thinking? There were so many other things I could have done to stop myself from coming up with these stupid ideas.

Sometimes I amaze myself at how dumb I can be.

Generally ticked off at myself, I continued reading the book throughout the night, which quickly ushered in the day while I fought off sleep, still trying to come up with a solution that wouldn't present itself to me. After awhile I placed the Future Bible in one of my packs, while I stretched and yawned, accidentally waking Sara up in the process.

"You're awake?" Sara asked, yawning as well. "Since when do you get up early in the morning?"

"Never went to sleep," I said, smiling at her and receiving from her. "Been up reading and thinking about things."

"Like what?"

"Some of the things I've been doubting."

"Like whether or not if what you've done was right?"

"Especially that."

Sara nodded and pushed her blanket away from her body in order to sit upright. "What'd you find out?"

"I screwed up a bit," I said, looking intently at her.

"Just a bit?"

"Well, a lot, but a bit sounds better."

Sara smiled and looked at me. "Yeah, you're right, it does sound better."

I smiled back at her. "How are you feeling?"

"Better. Not…Not much better, but still better than…that."

I nodded. "I can settle for that. Baby steps, sweetheart."

"Then can I ask a favor, Matt?"

"Anything, Sara."

"Would you let me go off on my own for awhile? I need some time to think away from everyone else."

I paused, debating my next answer. Could I let her go off alone after she'd just tried to kill herself? What kind of responsible man was I if I let her go? Did she really need to do this? What if she was telling the truth and I was worrying about nothing?

"I'm through trying to kill myself, if that's what you're worried about," Sara said with a wry smile.

I knew that smile well; it was Sara saying I've got things under control. I love it when she smiles like that.

"Oh, I can't say no to you," I said, knowing there was nothing to worry about.

"Thanks, Matt," Sara said, reaching over to hug me. "What are you going to do while I'm away?"

I considered it for a moment. "Probably going to help Shu convince Sis that he needs to go."

I was careful not to mention Lala-Ru; I had to, even if Sara was in a good mood. There was no telling what could happen if I said it aloud. I hated not knowing.

Sara nodded. "Tell him I'm sorry I'm making him leave."

"He doesn't have to, Sara," I said. "It doesn't have to be this way."

"It doesn't, but…I'm not ready, Matt. I can't do it this way."

"Okay. Be careful, Sara."

I leaned over to kiss her on the cheek and found her warm to the touch. It felt good to know that she was slowly returning back to her real self. Sara accepted the kiss and walked up to leave the room, as I wondered what my next step was.

Some of the kids were waking up then, and they were pleasantly surprised to see that I was awake and alive, so the nearest of them dog piled me before I knew what was going on. Crumpled under them, I tried to get out, but the little scamps kept piling on me, saying, "Matt's alive! Matt's alive!"

I smiled despite myself, knowing these knuckleheads were just happy to see me up and about. I accepted the punishment and waited for them to finish, as I watched Soon and the other girls laugh at the boys and their entertaining antics. I didn't have the heart to tell them not to attack me because of my…Ha-ha-ha, oh man, I'm sorry, but I had to laugh. That was a totally unplanned joke on my part. Sorry, kid, let me gather myself real quick. Oh, if you can't laugh at yourself, right?

Ahem.

The attack was interrupted by Sis, who shouted at the guys jumping on me to, "Get off of him right now before I knock your heads off!"

Needless to say, those a little younger than me heeded her words. Meanwhile, I was laughing my head off, as I watched my former "foes" being put in their place, but, as was usual for that house, a smack to the back of my head told me I'd gone too far.

"You should keep your adrenaline down, idiot," Sis said. "Where's Sara?"

"Out," I said, massaging the back of my head. "Taking care of some things."

"Define 'things.'"

I looked at the kids worryingly, allowing Sis to understand what the situation called for.

"Out!" she shouted, shooing them away. "Go clean the kitchen! Now!"

The kids scrambled down the stairs, obviously disappointed that I hadn't let them be a part of the conversation.

"Thanks, Sis," I said, still massaging the back of my head.

That woman packs a mean punch.

"Okay, I've done my part, now please tell me what's wrong, Matt," Sis said, a look of worry on her face. "What happened last night?"

"Sara tried to kill herself."

Sis's eyes widened. "Where? How? What happened?"

"I woke up from a bad dream and realized she wasn't here, so I tried to figure out where she could have gone, but then I thought about her mental state and it made me think that she might be trying to hurt herself or the baby, most likely both. So I got up and ran out the door to go and find her, eventually realizing she was in the water caves, because it would be out of the way and without witnesses. When I got there, though, I found that Shu had beaten me to it."

"Shu?" Sis asked, confused.

"Trust me, I was just as puzzled as you are, Sis," I said. "I didn't know what to do, so I just spied on them, wondering why I didn't just jump in there and stop whatever was going on. I watched as Shu fought Sara in order to stop her from killing the baby first and eventually herself, and he took away the rock she was using. He almost made her think about stopping, but she snapped and beat him up, and tried to run away. That was when I stepped out and talked to her."

I paused, wondering if I should mention by ploy to snap Sara back to reality. It didn't sound as good an idea then as it had in the caves.

"Then what happened?" Sis asked.

I pulled out my taser. "This is a device used to stun targets with vast amounts of electricity," I said. "If it's fired in the water anyone inside of it would get shocked to death. I told Sara that if she wanted to kill herself, then she'd have to take me with her, because I couldn't live without her. I placed it in her hand and hugged her, just hoping that I hadn't killed us both, but then nothing happened. We were both alive and Sara was crying in my arms. We made up and brought Shu here to design our next course of action for today. I've been up all night thinking about it, while making sure that Sara slept."

It took a while for Sis to speak up, mostly because she'd surprised me and locked me into one of her signature bear hugs. "Oh, Matt, you poor damn fool," she said, as she gave out a weak chuckle. "You could have gotten the both of you killed."

"But I didn't."

"Then why did you let her leave earlier? What's to stop her from trying to kill herself again?"

"Because I know Sara. If she were going to do that, she'd give it away in some way so subtle no one else could pick up on it but her father or me. She's trying to give life a second chance, Sis. She just needs some time to think about it."

Sis nodded. "Now what is this about designing your next course of action?"

"Well, by we, I meant Shu and Lala-Ru."

"And what does that mean?"

I stood up. "We should probably go downstairs and talk about it with them. It was Shu's idea to leave."

"Leave?" Sis repeated as she watched me walk past her downstairs.

I heard her get up the moment I left the room and situated myself on the wall next to the dinner table with one foot on the ground and the other supporting me as it touched the wall. Shu and Lala-Ru were sitting next to each other both talking about what they were going to do. Some of the kids were playing with each other to the side, unaware of what was about to happen. Sis came down from the stairway and looked over at the two of them, ready to figure out what was going on.

"You're leaving?" Sis asked, making Shu and Lala-Ru stare at her intently. "Leaving right now?"

"Yeah," Shu said, as he dropped his head, unwilling to look at her anymore.

"But why?" Sis asked.

Shu looked up at me and I nodded, but Sis had already picked up on our unspoken conversation. "Is it because of Sara?"

Shu raised his head and opened his mouth, but Sis interrupted him. "If this is about Sara, give it time and it will be sorted out. Many of the women here have been through the same thing. They all took their time."

"If I may, Sis, those women didn't have a not-so irrational hatred of our friend here," I said, as Lala-Ru looked at me. "If those women saw her right now, they wouldn't give her a second thought, but Sara's liable to snap again, and I'm sure we don't want that. Both of them need to stay away from each other to stay alive, whether we like it or not."

Sis nodded, but turned to Shu and Lala-Ru again. "If you leave now, I guarantee you will both end up dead in the desert."

I sighed, wishing there were some alternative to this.

Soon, however, seemed to have a question to pose, and she approached Lala-Ru, addressing her by the fake name Shu had given her when they'd first entered Zari-Bars, "Larla?"

Lala-Ru turned to face her.

"Are you Lala-Ru?"

Lala-Ru nodded.

"That's okay with me. Please stay. Stay and play with me, and Sara too."

Oh, to be like a child once more and believe everything can be solved with that beautiful word "simplicity." This whole experience has given me a greater appreciation for that Michael W. Smith song "Missing Person." I never really understood it before.

"We can't," Shu said, leaning in. "I'm sorry, but we have to go."

"I don't think so," Elamba said from behind Shu, making me jump.

I turned to the front door and found Elamba and one of his flunkies standing right behind him. He looked like he was about to raise some hell and I instinctively reached for my taser, but Sis's eyes told me to stand down.

"What do you want, Elamba?" Sis asked.

Elamba walked inside and approached Lala-Ru. I clenched my fist just in case he tried anything. "Lala-Ru," he said simply, throwing off my chain of thought.

Sis asked my question for me. "What? How did you—?"

Elamba smirked and peered down at Lala-Ru like some misbegotten pedophile. "So it is true," he said as he reached out his hand to grab Lala-Ru. "Come on!"

Shu acted before I could and placed an elbow in Elamba's chest, saying, "What are you doing?"

"She's going to help us negotiate with _Hellywood_."

"Negotiate?"

"Like hell she is," I said, eyeing Elamba's flunky and wondering what I should do to subdue him while Shu took Elamba.

Elamba laughing, however, forced me to forget what I was about to do. "That's right…we intend to negotiate to persuade _Hellywood_ to extradite Hamdo to us, and we're gonna use Lala-Ru to do it."

Sis gasped.

"I'd like to see you try!" I shouted, tensing up, trying to keep my heart rate down.

"That's ridiculous!" Shu yelled. "She's not an object!"

"This is the most peaceful solution," Elamba said, his hand still clutching Lala-Ru. "No casualties and no battle. All we need is her. Even you have to agree this is a reasonable compromise."

"Since when did the definition of the word reasonable get changed to supreme idiocy?" I asked, glaring at Elamba who ignored me and focused on Sis.

I glanced over at Sis and was shocked to see her turn away from us and walk up the stairs. She looked downtrodden, as if Elamba had forced her to do something she had vowed never to do again.

"Sis?" I asked, not understanding anything at all.

"Sis, wait!" Shu shouted.

Elamba smirked at her as she walked away and then turned to Lala-Ru again. "Come on!"

He twisted her around and brought her forward with him, and I started to go after him, but I heard Sis's voice shout out, "Hold it!"

Turning to her, my jaw dropped and my mind tried to process what I was looking at: Sis holding a gun in her hands and looking like she was going to blow the insides of Elamba's head all over the floor.

"Get your hands off my child!" Sis yelled, aiming the gun at Elamba.

"Are you crazy?" Elamba asked, trying to look unfazed by the development.

"What the—?" Shu said, understanding this about as well as I was at the time.

"She belongs to me!" Sis announced, still ready to fire the gun. "If you try to take her away, I'll kill you!"

"You're gonna shoot me over her?" Elamba asked, incredulous. "Are you serious?"

"Dead serious. Get out! Me and my family are about to sit down to a meal!"

Elamba's faced tensed up and he growled as he pushed Lala-Ru away from him and walked out of the house, taking his flunky with him.

"Lala-Ru!" Shu gasped as he checked her to see if she was okay.

I looked over at Sis, who had fallen on the floor in a sitting position, giving off a tremendous sigh of relief.

_She was actually going to shoot him,_ I realized. _Wow, way to go, Sis!_

Some of the smaller children jumped up the stairs to see her, saying, "Whoa, Sis!"

Sis turned to smile at them, saying, "Well, that was intense."

I laughed, glad we were okay for now and that Sis could crack a joke.

"Sis," Lala-Ru said, bringing our attention to her. "Thank you."

Sis gazed down at Lala-Ru with her mouth open wide, just as shocked as I was that the queen of ice had just defrosted a little. She smiled at her and said, "You're welcome. Let's just hope that I don't have to chase anyone else out of here today."

"Well, I'm glad that's over," I said, wiping the sweat from my forehead. "Almost gave me a heart attack."

Everyone in the room gasped and looked at me like I was going to die.

I held my hands up in the air. "Morbid joke, morbid joke, I'm sorry."

Sis shook her head. "Idiot."

Getting up from where she collapsed, Sis walked down to Shu and Lala-Ru and looked them in the eyes. "We've got to start packing for you two."

"What do we need to do, Sis?" I asked, ready to help.

"Gather some food for them, while I prepare the rest," Sis said, heading off to work while I did the same.

This was bad. Elamba was liable to come here with as many men as he could muster and start firing at random, and would probably end up killing one of us in the process. We had to get Shu and Lala-Ru out of there immediately.

_But what happens after that? _I asked myself as I gathered the food. _Who's going to watch out for them? Lala-Ru may be years older than you, but she's still a kid, and Shu is, well, Shu. They need someone to help them. But what about Sara? I can't make her come with us if I choose to look after them. There's no telling what'll happen. Dang it this sucks. Why can't life just be simple for once?_

Taking the food I'd gained, I offered it to Sis who placed them in some animal skins to help preserve them. "Take this," Sis said, handing them to Shu. "You'd better lay low for now. I'll go and find out whether Elamba is acting alone or not."

"Where are we supposed to hide?" Shu asked.

"Go to the watering cavern. There's a hidden cave in there. Soon."

Soon perked up and looked over at Sis.

"You show them," Sis said, smiling. "It looks like the kid's hide and seek skills are going to come in handy."

I nodded, still trying to decide what I wanted to do next. I knew that if Sara was there I could have made my decision much easier, but she wasn't, so I was stuck in the quagmire of my own desires.

Sis, meanwhile, grabbed her gun from the table and turned to Shu. "Take this!" she ordered him.

"No," Shu said lifting up his kendo stick. "This is all I need."

"That is not going to do the job, Shu! If worst comes to worst, those bastards might actually try to kill you."

Shu's head drooped. "But…I…I don't want…

"You don't have to use it. Keep it just in case."

I noticed Lala-Ru turning to look at Soon and followed her.

"It'll be alright," Soon proclaimed. "I'll protect you, Lala-Ru."

Sis cocked the gun and said, "Hurry. I know Elamba will be back. There's no time to lose."

I stayed in place, knowing I had to wait for Sara before I made any other decision. Slapping Shu on the back, I said, "Don't worry about a thing, Shu. I'll make sure that nothing happens while you're gone."

Shu smiled, shook my hand, and left with Soon and Lala-Ru.

"This is going to suck, Sis," I said, as we watched them go away.

"Unfortunately, Matt, I'd have to agree with you," she said, sighing. "Come on everyone, it's time to eat!"

The kids sat down at the table dutifully, while I remained at the doorway, hoping to catch a glimpse of Sara so that I could end my inner struggle. Sis prepared a quick meal and made sure everyone—including me—had his or her fill.

A couple minutes later she said, "When you're done put the dishes in the trash, then all of you go into the storage room, and look the door from the inside. And don't let anybody in."

"Can't we play outside?" one of the smaller kids asked.

"Not today," Sis said. "You'll stay put until I come back, you understand?"

I didn't pay attention after that, too engrossed with worrying over where Sara was to care. What was taking her so long?

"Matt?" Sis asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Yes, ma'am?" I asked, turning to face her.

"I need you to come with me. Sara will undoubtedly be inside of the village, so we can both get something out of this."

I nodded. "Lead the way."

The kids locked themselves in the storage room as we left Sis's home. I took one last look at it, wondering if I'd ever be able to live inside it ever again.

We walked on for a while, not saying a word to each other. It was maddening, that dead silence, but what were we going to say? Try not to die or get shot? Now that is cheerful.

"Sis!" Sara's voice cried out from behind us, making me twist around the moment I heard it. "Matt!"

"Sara!" I shouted, glad to have finally found her, but noticed the worried look on her face and flinched.

Sara reached us and came to me first, hugging me fiercely, as if she were trying to make sure I was still alive. What had happened to her and why was she so worried?

"What's the matter, Sara?" Sis asked.

Sara let go of me, went over to Sis, and grasped her arms, screaming, "Get out! Get out here! Hurry! Take the kids and run!"

"What's wrong, Sara?" I asked, placing a hand on her right shoulder.

"It's _Hellywood_! Kazam brought them right to us!"

"He did what?"

I paused, trying to comprehend what I was hearing. I'd always known that there was a possibility that _Hellywood_ would find us, but it seemed so impossible that I never worried about it as much as I should have. A rational man would've taken everyone he cared about and prepared a place for them to hide while he still had time. My irrationality and unique situation prevented such a thing from happening.

I remembered all the times Sara, Shu, Lala-Ru, and I had been hurt inside of that despicable place and shuddered. I couldn't let them take Sara again. Not now…not after all we'd been through to help her regain her sanity, but what could I do?

_Lala-Ru is the key,_ I thought. _Elamba's right, but he's going about it the wrong way. If Lala-Ru's kept safe, then everyone else will too. Maybe she can do…something to stop this. I don't know what exactly she'll do, but she has got to be kept safe._

I realized that Sis and Sara had been having a conversation while I was dwelling on private thoughts.

"He's the baby's father, I know it," Sara said, unconsciously holding her belly, which wasn't really showing any signs that she was pregnant, which wasn't that hard to grasp, seeing as she had only carried the child for maybe two or three months at the most.

I was furious. Not only had Sara been forced to go through the act of losing her precious innocence, but now the father was a no-good traitor that had just led the single most evil nation I'd ever come across right to us.

"That—That son of a bitch!" I shouted, clenching my fists. "What the hell was he thinking?"

"That doesn't matter now, Matt," Sara said, soothingly. "You can't get riled up. You have to stay calm."

Yeah, because being calm is so easy when everyone you care about is about to be put through hell again.

However, I listened to her words and calmed myself down. "They need to be told about this," I said, looking at Sis. "They need to be prepared and someone needs to go out there and keep them safe."

"Do it, Matt," Sis said, nodding. "Warn them and make sure they go as deep as they can into that cavern. There's no telling what could happen when they invade, so we need them as far away as possible. I still have to meet with Elamba to see if I can't get him to see reason. When I am done, I shall come to the caves with the children to keep us safe as well. Watch out for them until I do so."

"But what about you?" I asked. "Who's going to help you?"

"I will," Sara said, surprising us with a quick response. "I'll help you, Sis."

"But, Sara, you do know what'll happen if you go, right? Sis isn't going into the friendliest place in the world."

"Matt, in case you haven't noticed, we haven't been in a friendly place for months on end. I can take care of myself. Go help them…help protect Lala-Ru."

I was amazed at her resolve. Spoken like the Sara I knew and loved. Like the one who'd saved me from dying the first night we'd met each other.

Sara pulled me aside to continue to conversation in private.

"Then give 'em hell, Sara," I said after Sis was out of earshot.

She grinned. "I'll see what I can do."

I looked away from her for a moment, knowing I needed to add something else to make this better. "I can't promise you that nothing bad will happen, because we both know we're about to go through some terrible things, but what I can promise you is that no matter what happens out here today, I will always come back for you, Sara."

I approached her and kissed her passionately for a bit longer than I'd prepared for, but man was it worth it. It was worth it every single time.

The moment we ended it, though, I said, "And when this is over, I'll give you ten times more what I just gave you."

Sara smirked. "Only ten?"

"Sweetheart if we make it out of this alive and in one piece I'll make it a thousand times, now go help Sis. I've got some miscreants to protect."

She laughed. "I will, Matt. Be careful."

"Hey, it's me," I said.

Sara rolled her eyes. "That's what I'm afraid of."

We looked at each other one last time before we went out separate ways. I looked a little longer, wishing we didn't have to split up again, but at least this time I had a good idea that we would end up seeing each other again and hopefully intact this time around.

A/N: Next chapter will see the results of what happens to the decisions both Matt and Sara made and will show the introduction that will lead into the ending of this fan-fic. Just seven more chapters to write after this. Hope you enjoyed this one.


	24. Chapter 24

A/N: Sorry for the lateness here, but I had some issues to take care of back at home that prevented me from writing at all. That and I forgot to bring the DVD with me to help me write the dialogue from the actual show, which I'm quite OCD about. Anyways, here it is, so I hope you enjoy it. Let me know if there's anything I need to do to make this better. Thanks in advance.

Chapter 24

As I ran away from Sara and Sis, I heard a gunshot that had clearly come from the area behind me, and I paused, debating whether or not to check it out.

_That could have been Sara getting shot, _I told myself. _You have to go back there and see if she's alright. What if it's Sis? You know that neither of them has a gun so it had to be someone with ties to Elamba._

_But what about Lala-Ru? _another voice in my mind queried. _Don't you need to go and make sure she stays safe and away from _Hellywood_? Can you honestly leave her to go check something that might not even be as severe as you think it is?_

I clenched my fists, hating myself for not even trying to come up with a good counterargument, as I ran off in the direction I had originally headed for. Lala-Ru had to take precedence over anything else I wanted. I didn't know everything about her, but I did know that there was something about her that would help us out somehow. What that entitled I had no clue, but I had this burning desire to make sure nothing happened to her.

The entrance to the kid's hiding spot wasn't as noticeable as the other openings to the cave, but I'd been there enough to know what Sis and Soon had referred to. I had loved playing hide and seek with Sis's kids; they had so much fun, and even I could have a smile or two depending on the occasion. I wondered if they would ever be able to play safely again in Zari-Bars, or if Hamdo and _Hellywood_ were going to strip them of all that they knew in order to use them as cannon fodder in his pointless wars for dominance over a dying world.

Shrugging such thoughts out of my mind, I entered the cavern, making sure to go slowly so I wouldn't scare whoever had the gun into accidentally firing at me. The last thing we needed was to get caught in friendly fire.

I located Shu, Lala-Ru, and Soon engaged in a conversation near the innermost section of the caves, with Shu having both his kendo stick and the gun Sis had offered him resting by his side. Lala-Ru seemed to notice my presence there and looked over at me with those pale blue eyes of hers that sent shivers down my body.

"Are you all okay?" I asked, jumping from one stone to the other to reach them.

"We're fine, Matt," Shu said, standing up. "What's wrong?"

"Sis and Sara may or may not have been captured a while back by Elamba and his men, but that's not all."

"Then we need to save them!" Shu cried out, grabbing his _shinai_. "Come on, you and me will go right now and get them!"

"Slow down, Shu," I said, grabbing the _shinai_ and lowering it. "For once in my life I'm not running off without knowing all the details. Besides, we've got much bigger problems than Elamba and his group."

"What's that, Matt?" Soon asked.

"_Hellywood _is coming."

I heard a gasp exit Lala-Ru's mouth, something I hadn't expected given her usual nature of serenity. Shu paced around frantically, trying to garner what I had just given him to think about. Soon seemed to freeze in place, most likely thinking of her father, the one that had been killed trying to assassinate Hamdo months ago.

"We've got to warn the entire village and get them to safety!" Shu shouted.

"We have to what?" I asked, furling an eyebrow. "Haven't you heard a word I've said, Shu? This village has more than likely just captured Sis and Sara, and you want us to go out and save them? What kind of idiot do you take me for?"

"It's not idiocy to want to help people!" Shu announced, looking at me with a storm of pure intent in his eyes. "So what if they did that? We get Sis and Sara back, warn them, and then hide from _Hellywood_! Just because the people of Zari-Bars did something bad doesn't mean we can't help them!"

It always feels bad when someone younger than you puts you in your place, and even more so when they are absolutely right and you are absolutely wrong. But hey, kid, that's Shu for you. Dang, stubborn little fool he is.

I sighed. "Listen, Shu, I want to go out there and save Sara and Sis just as much as you want to, but we can't."

"Why's that?" Shu asked.

I looked over at Lala-Ru. "Because we have to protect Lala-Ru first. I don't even pretend to understand why—besides the obvious reasons—but I know we can't let them have her. She's way too valuable for this world to get caught just because you and I just couldn't keep our emotions in check for a moment. We have to stay here and defend her to the bitter end."

"But that's—" Shu started, but he was interrupted.

"He's right, Shu," Lala-Ru said, placing a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "I don't like it, but he's right."

"But we can't just leave them there."

"Shu, we don't even know if they're in trouble at all," I said. "I just had a feeling that they were, but Sara and Sis both know that we have to stay here and watch out for Lala-Ru, so…if something did happen…we can't let their sacrifice be in vain."

Shu looked from Lala-Ru to me and frowned. "I hate having to make these stupid decisions," he said. "Why can't it just be simple?"

"Because the world isn't simple, Shu," I said, slouching down to situate myself on the walls of the cavern.

We sat there in silence for a couple minutes, none of us wishing to break it in order to keep some sense of normalcy between us. I've spoken in the past of my hatred for awkward silences, but sometimes they are a necessary evil that needs to get out into the world to help people think through everything and understand those around them in a way they didn't before. Doesn't mean I still don't hate that feeling. Gah, I hate that awful feeling.

Soon broke the silence first, asking, "Lala-Ru?"

I looked over at Soon, finding her staring at the blue-haired phenomenon. Shu, meanwhile, wasn't paying attention, and was instead wrapping his hands around his raised knees, obviously dwelling on our inability to help everyone like he wanted to do.

"Didn't you feel lonely always being by yourself?" Soon asked.

Lala-Ru shook her head.

I can't imagine how she wouldn't feel lonely. Humans are by our very nature social beings. Even the biggest introvert needs human companionship every now and then to feel connected. Then again Lala-Ru never said she was a human being.

"Really?" Soon asked. "Well I get lonely. I miss having my father around."

There was a slight pause. Shu grimaced as he began to think of something that made him mad.

"But you know I think I would be lonelier if you were to go away too, Lala-Ru," Soon said.

I smiled, glad that Soon had the bluntness to say something that really needed to come out into the open.

Lala-Ru stared at Soon, quite befuddled over a little thing we humans call "love," or, to be more specific, _philia_ as the Greeks called it. Brotherly love: The love between two very good friends.

"There you are!" Sara's voice rang out from the darkness of the caverns, causing me to stand up and look over at her in amazement.

"You're alive!" I said, barely able to contain my excitement.

"Sara!" Shu shouted as he grabbed his _shinai_.

Sara ignored the both of us and went straight for Lala-Ru, who she grabbed by her right hand in an effort to pull her up to stand.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Shu asked as he watched Sara.

"Sis has been taken by Elamba!" Sara announced, causing me to unconsciously clench my fists in anger. "He's demanding Lala-Ru. If we don't hurry he's going to kill her!"

"But then what is he going to do with Lala-Ru?"

"But we can't just give him Lala-Ru, Sara!" I protested. "You and I both know that's true!"

"Do you want to let Sis die?" Sara asked.

"No, but I don't want to lose Lala-Ru either. We can't sacrifice her, Sara. We've got to find another way."

"There isn't any other way, Matt."

I groaned inwardly, wishing I had some counterpoint to bring up, but finding none to give out.

"Here you are," a grown man's voice I didn't recognize said from behind Sara and Lala-Ru, making us turn to face him.

I stared up at him and realized he was holding a gun, some type of pistol or other sidearm that had us all at a disadvantage. I might have been able to get the taser out, but there was no guarantee that I could hit him in time to stop him from firing off the gun and maybe killing one of us.

He laughed at the futility of our resisting him and raised the gun.

Shu and I got in front of the others and lifted our _shinai_ and taser respectively. If anything it made me feel better to know that Sara, Lala-Ru, or Soon weren't as likely to get shot if we were both in front of them. However that also meant that Shu and I weren't exactly in the safest position either.

"Hand her over, kid," the man said, holding out his left hand.

The moment he gave that request, Shu and I synchronized in what hindsight would deem a stupid idea, but somehow didn't screw up as much as it should have. Shu growled and advanced on the man, attacking with his _shinai_, while I—afraid that I would end up hitting Shu, pounced on the man to try and grab his gun. The man deflected the _shinai_ with his hand and fell back, allowing me the time to reach for the gun, but Shu, whose hand was bandaged up from the fight Sara and he had had just recently, cried out in pain and caused me to lose focus, ending up falling on the ground in the least graceful way possible. The man took the initiative and smacked Shu in the head with his hand, and then kneed him in the stomach, making Shu fall down and clutch the areas of his body that had been hurt and grimace in pain as he collided with the ground.

I looked up and almost stood, but then I noticed Lala-Ru was approaching the man with a determined look on her face. A very generous voice in my head decided to stay out of her way, because I felt like something big was about to happen, and it was in my best interests to get out of Lala-Ru's path.

But just as Lala-Ru started to advance, Soon rushed out in front of her and held both her hands up, trying to defend the only person she could probably call her friend. The man approached as I decided now would be a good time to ignore the voice in the back of my head and stand up, just as I felt a panging sensation in my chest. Resigned to my fate, I ceased movement and swallowed the only pills I had left to try and stop my heart before it killed me.

"Move it," he commanded, staring down at the much smaller Soon.

"Stay back!" Soon ordered, never blinking.

The man held his gun up to Soon's face. "I'm not kidding."

"I won't let you take her!"

Lala-Ru's eyes grew wider, as something in Soon's declaration managed to hit what emotions she did have. I breathed in and out, knowing that my heart wouldn't be hurting me then, because it was abating. I vaguely heard the sounds of water dropping from the ceiling of the caverns.

"Then I'll have to shoot you!" the man declared, grabbing Soon by the head as she gave out a weak cry.

"Don't," she whimpered.

"No!" Shu cried out, now on his hands and knees.

Shu and I both tried to get on our feet to try and stop the man from killing Soon, but something stopped us.

The sound of rushing water entered our ears and we both watched as it rushed right past us—leaving us both completely dry in the process—and whipped around to collide with and take down the man with the gun, ending his threat for the time being. The water crashed him against the rocky walls of the caves repeatedly, killing him almost instantly.

I looked over to where Soon, Sara, and Lala-Ru were standing and I saw Lala-Ru staring at the man as he continually collided with the walls, the pendant hanging around her neck was up in the air as if it were possessed. Taking control of my body once more, I grabbed Shu and stood next to the others, letting him go once we got there. Sara and I both stared back at one another, unable to talk about what was happening around us.

Lala-Ru continued to swirl the water around the caves, yet never once let it get near any of us. We were surrounded in a bubble that was completely impenetrable to the outside world. The only things that were getting in or out would be the things that Lala-Ru allowed.

I clutched Sara's hand, glad that someone had managed to end the attack before one of us got hurt.

That's when I noticed that we were moving across the caves, the water propelling us forward as we remained inside of the bubble. Sara and I grabbed Soon, who looked as if she were going to panic and dropped down on the floor of the bubble, while Shu did the same to keep himself safe.

We traveled what seemed like a short distance to a new location, one that, when I looked up, was what had once been the center of Zari-Bars.

Water surrounded it on all sides, trapping all the people inside as Lala-Ru stared out into the horrible sight I was looking at as well.

Elamba was standing in the center on some platform that had two huge planks of wood supporting a woman that looked like she had been crucified. Staring at her, I found out that the woman was Sis and that she'd been shot and bloodied from her ordeals. All of gasped as we stared at the spectacle, not knowing what to do next.

And then, just when it seemed like she would use the water to dispose of Elamba just like the man back in the caves, Lala-Ru allowed the water to fall and we were all left on semi-dry land. I felt weak from all that had happened—partly the result of the drugs I'd taken—and tried to stand but couldn't find the strength to do so.

I noticed that Elamba had approached us and had grabbed Lala-Ru's chin with a look of curiosity on his face. Sara, Shu, Soon, and I, seeing our friend in danger, all stood up and prepared to attack Elamba, but Lala-Ru lifted up her fingers, beckoning us to all back down and wait.

"We're using you for the negotiation with _Hellywood_," Elamba proclaimed, "so follow our orders!"

"Leave her alone!" Shu cried out and advanced as Elamba threw Lala-Ru back to him.

Shu held on to her with both hands as Lala-Ru's head drooped.

I started to say something, but then a sudden violent sandstorm kicked up and caused us all to close our eyes in order to stop the sand from entering them. I managed to look up into the sky to try and find the source, but I wish I hadn't, because it meant that everything we'd just fought for had meant nothing.

_Hellywood_ had come for us.

A/N: Well, expect some appearances from some characters not seen in a long time, as well as some developments fans of the show will see coming from a mile away. The next chapter should be out by either Wednesday or Thursday, but no guarantees. I've got a lab practical Wednesday I'm not that enthused about, and there's my other writing to consider. Until next time.


	25. Chapter 25

A/N: Okay, had some minor troubles working on this, but they're all over now, thank God. Anyways, here it is. You know the drill, so let me know what I need to in order to make this better.

Chapter 25

I involuntarily grabbed Sara tighter as I stared up into the sky, wishing with every fiber of my being that I was merely hallucinating the massive battle station that loomed overhead the tiny village of Zari-Bars. The sand swirled around us, covering us all in its deadly and menacing promise of destruction. Sara stiffened as she pushed herself over to me and she shook violently, undergoing memories better left to never recall again. I just wanted to talk to her, to say something encouraging, but I knew that I would just be lying.

However, just as Sara moved over to me, she noticed the limp form of Sis that was still hanging from the ropes that bound her to the double pieces of wood that stood fifteen feet away from her broken body. She let go of me and rushed over to her, holding her intently, and staring off into the sky with fear all over her normally calm face. I leapt over to her to make sure that I knew that she was by me at all times, something that really isn't as heroic as I make it sound. I'm amazed to this day that we didn't just start to panic and give up there. Some strange feeling kept us from falling into despair. I'd like to chalk it up to hope, but it was as far from it as possible.

Shu was holding Lala-Ru from behind her as he gazed up at _Hellywood_, with the telltale look of shock on his face. I don't think any of us could have been prepared for what we were all witnessing, but I sure wish we could have. It had been bad enough just knowing that they were coming, but worse still to know that everything we had done to save ourselves from them had dissipated the moment that hulking abomination came over the village. Helplessness is a feeling no human being should ever experience.

However, none of that compared to hearing the voice of the one man that I had solemnly wished never to see or be near again. It was a triumphant voice, one that told us all that there was no hope and that we were as good as dead.

"Traitors of Zari-Bars!" the self-proclaimed King Hamdo cried out from his battle station, safe from engaging us openly. "Listen up! You are all guilty of conspiring to commit treason and deserve death! And I shall deliver it to you! Atone for your sins!"

There was a slight pause, one long enough for me to bemoan the fact that there was nowhere for us to run away. We had effectively sealed ourselves in the valley that made up Zari-Bars.

"My name is Hamdo," he continued, "the ruler of the Earth!"

The connection cut off from there, and _Hellywood_ descended to the ground, and the shockwaves cost the majority of the people watching to lose their balance.

_How can they be doing this? _I asked myself, still clutching Sara, who in turn kept holding onto Sis. _It was a wreck when we left it! What happened that allowed Hamdo the ability to give life to _Hellywood_?_

I didn't know it at the time, but I was later told of how Shu and Lala-Ru had both indirectly caused this rejuvenation of _Hellywood_ when they escaped from Hamdo. Lala-Ru had used her pendant there, thus providing Hamdo with more than enough water to use the battle station to its full potential.

But that didn't matter; none of that mattered anymore. _Hellywood_ was there, and we were going to suffer the consequences. It lowered itself closer to the ground, blotting out the crimson sun that I had come to get used to. Shadows permeated the area, causing darkness to ruin our vision, but what little sight we had left was more than enough to go and talk about the horrors that happened afterward.

The moment _Hellywood_ collided with the rocky walls that normally protected Zari-Bars from invaders it caused them to collapse upon themselves, leading the way for vast amounts of rubble to come slamming down onto us and killing hundreds instantly. Both Sara and me grabbed each other even tighter than before, as I tried to locate Shu, Soon, and Lala-Ru, but to no avail. The populace screamed as they tried to flee from the destruction before them, most of them able to get away from the boulders that rained down from the heavens, but not all were as lucky.

A massive dust cloud entered the center of the area we were at, covering us in a brown mist that forced me to close my eyes to prevent it from ruining them. Everyone there coughed as the dust filled their lungs, and I spat out a nasty combination of the dust, phlegm, and my own blood. As the dust cleared, I looked up once more at _Hellywood_, and feared for my life.

"Attack!" Hamdo's voice thundered over the loudspeakers. "Kill anybody that moves! Destroy everything in sight! Kill! Kill! _KILL!_"

Doors opened from the bottom of _Hellywood_, issuing forth the limitless multitude of Hamdo's forces, which consisted of his regular foot soldiers, the snakelike mechas that had taken Sara and me away from home, and other monstrosities I can barely begin to try and describe, let alone wish to remember.

"No!" I cried out in horror. "No! No! No! No!"

Soldiers came down from grapples, killing any in their path, while mechas with flamethrowers disintegrated anyone in the homes they investigated. Zari-Bars had just become a slaughterhouse, and we were the cattle.

But then I saw something that only could have happened because of me: Soldiers from different divisions attacked civilians with strange devices that struck them, shook them violently, and then killed them.

Tasers.

I had designed those…and now they were killing people.

"No!" I shouted again. "Oh God, no!"

I heard Elamba yell out an expletive from near us, but I didn't care about him; I didn't care about him at all.

_Kazam, _I thought, _this is all your fault! You led them right to us! We were safe!_

It became apparent to me later on that I wasn't holding on to anyone, and I looked around frantically for Sara, who had taken Sis from her bonds and placed her to the side, away from all the carnage. Jumping off the platform I was on, I made my way to her, making sure no bullets or tasers were headed in my path the entire time. I dove into the dirt and ended up by Sara's side, as she checked Sis over. Shu, Soon, and Lala-Ru all sat by Sis, looking at her with concern on their faces. Even with all the carnage going on around them, they at least understood the value of looking out for those you cared about.

"Sis!" Sara whimpered. "Sis!"

Sis opened her eyes and looked at Sara, but suddenly got up as she gasped.

"You shouldn't strain yourself!" Sara declared.

"Oh God," Sis said. "Look at the village. Oh God." She paused for a moment, lying in Sara's arms. "The kids!" she suddenly shouted out.

"Sis!"

"Calm down, Sis!" I shouted, trying to prevent her from wounding herself more so than she already had. "Lie back down!"

"Somebody's got to help them!" Sis cried out, tears filling her eyes.

It says a lot about a person when they could really not give a damn about their own problems, and instead worry about those they care for. I wish I could be that selfless.

"I'll go get them!" Shu announced, standing up.

"Not alone, you're not!" I shouted, also standing up with him. "You're taking me with you!" I turned to Sara. "Keep them here, Sara! We might still have a chance to get out of this mess! If someone pulls a gun on you, then don't act like you're going to attack them! I'll come back for you as soon as I can!"

"Hurry, Matt!" Sara yelled. "We're losing time!"

"Right! Come on, Shu!"

With the only weapons on hand being a _shinai_ and our fists and brains, Shu and I started our foolhardy decision to enter the senseless bloodbath, looking for children that I still could not remember the names of, but I'll be damned if I was going to let them get killed and slaughtered without at least trying to reach them in time. Little did we know that someone else had followed us, sealing her fate in the process.

We ran through the carnage, stepping over dead bodies that had once been people who'd only wanted the chance to live in a barren world. I hated everything about what was happening…the violence, the dying moans of innocent civilians, the fact that I had some part in some of their deaths, and the likelihood that we would most likely never see another day on this planet. There was no rational thing for me to do.

So I did the irrational: I prayed. I prayed for deliverance, for some way out of this predicament that kept us safe, and for help to rid me of my doubts.

_I haven't gone on this long to die out here, Lord, _I said to Him. _And I sure as hell haven't gone this long to just have everyone I love die, so please help me…help all of us out of this mess. I need Your help…because I can't do this on my own. Please help me._

Shu and I entered the remnants of what had once been Sis's home. Providentially, it was intact enough to allow us the chance to get inside without trouble. Shu entered first, but I was close behind him, ready to do whatever it took to save those kids.

"Hello!" Shu shouted through the emptiness.

"Kids!" I cried out. "It's Shu and Matt, come on out!"

"You guys!"

Shu reached the storage room door first and opened it, revealing the children that Sis and I had left behind to keep them safe earlier from Elamba, but now it seemed that all of that had been for nothing. They were all crying and whimpering in the darkness of the storage room, afraid that the person who was opening the door would be the one who would end up shooting them and ending their lives.

"Is everybody alright?" Shu asked.

"It's okay, guys, we're here to help you," I said, offering a weak smile.

"It's Shu!" one of the smaller kids shouted, rushing forward to meet him.

"And Matt!" another announced, heading for me.

This time my smile was genuine. At the very least these kids were alive.

"Whoa, hey," Shu said as they pushed us out of the door.

But the moment we got past it, a gunshot that almost hit me in the head ran itself into the door, causing us all to flinch.

"Freeze!" ordered a voice I had heard before, many months ago.

Shu and I turned over to the doorway, finding—to my utter surprise—that both Nabuca and Boo were staring back at us. Nabuca had his gun aimed at me, a fierce look of defiance on his face, while Boo meekly stood by him with his own weapon, which still looked childish in his small arms.

"Shu!" Boo proclaimed, and then looked at me, a well-deserved shudder along with it. "Matt!"

Nabuca lowered his rifle for a moment, staring at us, as Shu and I created a body shield around the little ones, hoping to take the full brunt of any shots Nabuca might let out in anger. I didn't know that Shu, Boo, and Nabuca all had a history together serving in the same unit, there hadn't been time to ask those questions, but I could sense that there was something about Shu that made Nabuca hesitate.

A massive silence followed. Nabuca and Boo stared at us, while Shu and I kept on defending the children. But, as what must happen, the silence was broken.

"Get away from them!" Nabuca ordered, aiming the rifle once more at us. "It's an order; I'll kill them!"

"What?" Shu asked. "Have you lost it? They're just kids!"

"We can work something out here, Nabuca!" I said, holding one hand out. "We don't have to do this!"

"That doesn't matter!" Nabuca thundered. "We can go home as soon as we destroy this place!" He turned his head toward Boo, saying, "Watch him, Boo."

Nabuca looked at us once more, while my eyes turned to Boo. He had his eyes shut, and seemed to be suffering from some sort of aneurysm. What was going on inside his head?

"What are you doing?" Nabuca demanded of him.

Boo didn't answer him. He opened his eyes and dropped his gun on the floor, giving off a triumphant grunt.

"No more," Boo said. "It doesn't matter if we go home or not. We'll pay for this until we die!"

"Pick up your gun!" Nabuca roared.

"No!"

Nabuca huffed. "If you don't want to kill, I will! This village sent those assassins! All conspirators must be executed!"

"Nabuca!" Shu shouted. "Think about what you're doing!"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" He paused. "If I don't kill, I can't go back to my village! I killed the intruders, and I killed the assassins! I killed them all! What's so wrong about that? Only killing can stop the war! The battle never ends until one side is wiped out! I've killed enemy soldiers! I've killed assassins! I've always killed! What's one more?"

I gazed at the finger Nabuca held at the trigger, and watched as it twitched. For all his talk he was still not being true with himself. Either way it didn't look good for any of us. Someone was going to die and there was nothing I could do about it.

"Move!" Nabuca ordered.

My eyes flashed over to Boo, who seemed to notice something or someone who was outside of the house. He mouthed something and his eyes widened in response to the unknown threat. I peered in that direction, finding Soon holding the rifle that Sis owned, and she was pointing it at Nabuca's back.

_Where did she come from? _I asked myself, just as everything began to fall apart.

"Nabuca!" Boo squealed, jumping out in front of him to take the shot for his best friend.

It happened so suddenly, that I wasn't even sure it had happened. Soon shot the rifle and hit Boo in the body, stealing his voice from him. I tried to shout out something to Soon, but my voice failed me as well, just as Soon reloaded the rifle and began to try to take out Nabuca once more. She aimed the rifle at him to end his life, just as Nabuca realized what was going on, and, in a panic, turned around and fired off the shot that would kill Soon, who accidentally fired her bullet off target, ending with it hitting a water jar in Sis's house, while Shu and I stared at the scene in horror.

They say that the worst moments of your life always happen in slow motion, and I tend to agree with them. In real time I'd say maybe five or six seconds had gone by from the moment Boo jumped out in front of Nabuca to the time Soon died, but to me…they all felt like eternity. I'd never been able to fully apologize to Boo for what I'd done to him that day with the first taser, and now I never will in this world, and maybe not even the next, because I have no idea what Boo believed in. Do children get a free pass for not being old enough to know these things? Did God have mercy on them? I don't know the answers…only the questions. I never will know the answers in this life. I wish I did.

Blood began to form pools alongside the bodies of both Boo and Soon. Then it hit me: They were both dead. Why was this happening?

Nabuca took two steps back, shocked from the senselessness of what had just occurred in front of us. "Boo?" he asked, pathetically, as if expecting the corpse to just be some massive prank, and for Boo to still be alive.

I was speechless, so unable to collect myself that I wasn't even thinking straight. I just looked out at the bodies and stared at them blankly.

"Soon," Shu said, horrified.

I looked over at him, regaining some of my senses, and cringed as I saw Shu's face lose its normality. Even when he was stressed Shu looked easygoing and carefree, but back then, something had taken a hold of him that temporarily destroyed the face that I was used to. It started simply as mild twitching, but soon developed into a full-fledged show of anger.

"_NABUCA!_" Shu roared in a voice not his own.

Before I could stop him, Shu leapt away from the kids, grabbed the rifle from the floor, and pointed at Nabuca, while his countenance displayed the unbridled fury that had lain dormant for so long in his life. Shu pulled the trigger and a bullet launched itself from the rifle, yet didn't hit anyone in the room to my surprise. Instead it had impacted the ground right in front of Nabuca, who was just as shocked as I was that he was still alive. We both looked at Shu, who was drooping his entire body and panting from the decision he had just made.

Suddenly Shu threw the rifle to the side, clearly unhappy that he'd been around it at all, let alone fired it. He dropped to his hands and knees and trembled viciously, all the while crying as well.

Nabuca looked up quickly as he noticed someone else coming inside the house, and I turned my eyes over to see who it was for myself, finding the gray-haired and foul-tempered Tabool stepping inside. My anger flashed, recalling the time he'd taken Sara away to be used against her wishes. He stared at me for a while, our mutual hatred for each other setting our hearts on fire. Huffing when he noticed I had no weapons and that I was defending small children, Tabool aimed his sidearm at Shu's head, ready to blast his life away at a moment's notice.

"Don't do it!" Nabuca shouted, surprising me with his resolve.

"Deserters are to be shot on sight," Tabool said, not looking away from Shu.

Nabuca seized up, while I knew in my heart that if something drastic didn't happen, then I was next in line to get a bullet in my head.

"Don't!" Nabuca ordered, grabbing Tabool by the red handkerchief that most _Hellywood_ soldiers had around their necks. "No more killing! I don't want to kill anymore!"

Tabool pushed Nabuca back with disdain in his face. "Get out of my way!" he growled, as he approached the children and me.

"No!" Shu cried out, as he jumped up and got in front of us, still showing off more courage in that one instance than I have in my entire life.

Tabool, nonplussed, aimed the pistol at Shu's heart, a smug look of satisfaction on his face.

"All personnel: Cease fire!" Abelia's voice commanded from an unknown spot in Zari-Bars. "Round up the hostages and prepare for departure!"

Tabool stiffened, but held up the gun once more, but Nabuca stopped him by pushing the gun out of the way. "Tabool, that was an order!"

Tabool gave one last look of defiance, but grunted and walked away from us. Shu and I continued to hold the children close to us, not knowing what to do.

Soon enough soldiers entered the room and located us, the first of which tried to take the children away from me, but I struggled against them, just in time to received a blow to the back of a head from a rifle butt, rendering me unconscious.

A/N: Alright, then, so next chapter will focus on the reintroduction of Matt to _Hellywood_, as well as a certain despot's plans for him. Until next time.


	26. Chapter 26

A/N: Sorry about the lateness of this, but I haven't really had time to do much of anything writing-wise because of college. Okay, so please let me know if there's anything in here that requires my attention, and please review if you can. Hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 26

Getting hit in the head by a rifle butt isn't exactly something I'd recommend to you, kid. In fact, thinking about it again hurts my head. I had a pretty severe wound from the blow, but like a lot of things I used to have that bothered me, they don't plague me anymore, thank God.

Following my getting knocked out, I woke up some hours later looking straight up at the ceiling of one of the many cells of _Hellywood_.

"Damn déjà vu," I noted, rubbing the back of my head.

"Matt!" I heard Sara's voice cry out, causing me to jolt up in response to look out and find her.

I located her to the side of me, where she was bent on her knees over the body of Sis, who looked dead at first glance, but I found her breathing a moment later, removing the fear from my mind. A second glance at Sara told me that she was graciously and oh so wonderfully unharmed, more than likely the result of her not fighting back whenever the soldiers had taken them, letting me know she'd listened to my advice.

"How's it going, sweetheart?" I said, trying to sound more in control of whatever was happening to us than I was. "My head kinda hurts a little."

Sara seemed to calm down, appreciating my pathetic attempt at humor that, when I look back at it right now, really needs some work when it comes to situational comedy. "Matt, you idiot," she said, shaking her head. "It's going horribly, but a little better now that you're up."

"Always good to know I have that affect on you, Sara."

I got up, but Sara held out her hand. "You've lost a lot of blood, Matt. You need to lie back and relax."

"Well that would explain why I'm seeing two of you."

"You're what?"

"Calm down, sweetheart, I was just joking. I'm looking at the only Sara I'll ever need to see."

"Smooth," she offered, shaking her head. "But you need to lie down, Matt. We can't risk you losing any more blood."

"I don't think I'll get hurt enough to the point where I can't move two steps over to you."

I disobeyed my well-meaning girlfriend and walked over to her, finding that most of the kids I'd gotten my head attacked for were all alive and none the worse for wear, well, if you consider the circumstances they were in. Some of them were missing, though, and I found later that they were in the next cell over with Shu.

Sis was sprawled out on the floor, looking, well, kinda awful. Sorry for my very meager usage of the English language to describe her, but I can't really think of anything that would properly describe just how…awful she looked. It was obvious she was in pain, and that she was suffering from some sort of nightmare I'd grown accustomed to ever since I'd found myself in the misbegotten world that I'd come to paradoxically enjoy every now and then. Sara, of course, was none too happy that I'd disobeyed her, but just sighed and let me do my thing, knowing full well I wasn't trying to demean her in any way by doing exactly what she'd told me not to do. "Just Matt being Matt," she'd say.

"How long have we been here?" I asked Sara, as my eyes remained fixated on Sis's body.

"Almost half a day," Sara said, frowning.

I turned to the kids. "How are you guys holding up?"

It was almost like they'd been waiting for someone to talk to them, because the moment I brought them up in conversation, those crazy hoodlums assaulted me and kept grabbing onto me, crying their eyes out. A part of me told myself to cry with them, but a more rational me advised me to show a calm face and to make sure the kids knew that I was there to help them out.

I smiled, genuinely for once when I knew something bad was going on, and made a promise to them, "I'm going to make sure that nothing bad happens to you here."

It was such a nice promise, so full of hope, but what did I have to back it up on? How could I make such a promise to small children who were looking for someone to help them cope when I knew that I had no idea what was going to happen next? To tell you the truth, I just kinda knew it'd be alright, so when I made that promise, it was the result of me knowing something I shouldn't. People get these feelings all the time, but some of them aren't able to ever come up with a reason for why they get them. Newfound confidence in the path of a horrific reality seems suicidal and slightly cruel to those you show it to, but not when you know it's true. I wish I could tell you how exactly I had this feeling, but I can't just yet. I just…knew. Now I know why I knew what I didn't know then, which I shall elaborate on later, but now here's something else to talk about.

There's a Japanese phrase that Shu taught me one day before the end of this that can't really be translated, not even by the device Schmerz oh so graciously bestowed on me. It's called "_Nankurunaisa_" in its native Japanese, but it roughly translates into jolly old English as "things will work out somehow." If there was another explanation for how I could know that we'd be alright, it'd be because of that feeling that things would indeed work out somehow once all was said and done. I like that maxim; it makes me feel good about how the universe operates, even when it downright sucks.

The kids seemed to calm down and mellow out a bit thanks to my speechifying and gradually let go of me, while I continued to smile at them. It was then that I realized that Soon was not among them and never would be again. More than likely she'd been incinerated by a passing soldier with a flamethrower, or maybe crushed by a rock slide, but it didn't matter, because she was dead, and there was nothing I could do about it.

"Where's Shu?" I asked.

Sara frowned for a moment, but said, "In the other cell. He's still unconscious I think, or he was the last time I checked. I haven't had too many opportunities, since I had to watch out for you and Sis."

I smiled. "Thanks, Sara. It's nice to know someone was watching out for me."

She smiled back. "It'd be easier if you didn't talk in your sleep and make the people around you annoyed when you won't shut up.

I grinned sheepishly as I checked out the nodding heads of the other captives in our jail cell.

Cracking my neck and feeling some pain from the wound I'd gained at least half a day ago, I frowned, but lost it immediately when I realized the kids were still watching me. Acting on a whim, I crawled to the cell door and found the guard asleep, with the key to the cells resting with him, but out of our reach. Cursing that fact, I eased my head over to get a good look at the other cell, finding Shu lying down in the other cell, sleeping or maybe unconscious, I couldn't tell.

Moving back to Sara, I asked, "What happened to Lala-Ru?"

I already knew the answer, but I had to have it confirmed by someone who'd, you know, actually been awake to see it. Where else was Lala-Ru going to go but where King Hamdo wanted her to be? I mean, it's not like she could have escaped in all of that chaos, could she?

"He has her," Sara said, a chill running down both our spines.

"She'll never do what he wants her to do," I said, trying to calm both of us down. "If he thinks anything else than he's an idiot."

Sara laughed, but it was interrupted by a man's voice, one of whom I'm all too familiar with.

"Oh, I'm an idiot now, am I?" the annoyed voice of King Hamdo said from the front of the cell doors.

I froze, barely gaining enough energy to turn to my left and see him standing there with that sadistic look of accomplishment on his face. The other captives gave out mild gasps and shielded their eyes at the sight of him, something I really don't blame them for. It'd be like someone from Kuwait in my world finding out that Saddam Hussein had just taken them captive, forced them into slavery, and then showed up at their cell to torment them. I, on the other hand, was more used to his face, and too focused to not look away from his greedy eyes.

"How are you doing today, Matthew?" Hamdo asked, grinning.

_Don't crack a joke, _I told myself. _Please, dear God, don't let me crack a joke. _

"I'd like to make a human resources complaint if you don't mind," I said, hating my inability to stop myself from producing idiocy from my mouth. "Rooms are a bit too small, cramped, and we'd like to go back home too, while we're at it."

Hamdo laughed, forcing half his body to contort backwards as he did so, chilling my blood flow to dangerous levels. "Oh my, how I missed those remarks," Hamdo said, wiping a tear from his eye.

Sara looked at me in a mixture of fear and anger, basically telling me to shut the hell up if I wanted to live. It's nice to know that at least one of us cares about my well being, because I obviously don't.

"But then you ran away from me," Hamdo said, all smiling gone.

I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off.

"You are coming with me," he said. "You will return to your old job. I'll even pitch in the original contents of our deal, but only if you do as you are told."

The sleeping guard from earlier approached Hamdo and offered him the keys, which he took.

"But, King Hamdo, didn't you just win?" I asked, a bit too innocently for my tastes. "Wasn't Zari-Bars your only threat?"

"No!" he growled. "I have a kingdom to return to and it must be annihilated at once! And you had better help me destroy Das Paradies!"

"Yes, King Hamdo!" I said, jumping up and heading to the door as he opened it. "Anything you say, sir!"

"Good, now follow me."

I took one last look at Sara, offering her a smile, a smile left over from my odd propensity to know that everything would be fine in the end. She returned it, letting me know that this insane feeling was contagious, which, for once in my life, felt like a good thing to have at my disposal.

Hamdo led me up to his chambers, where I passed multiple cells full of captured civilians from Zari-Bars, who each looked worse than the last. Prison will do that to you.

I knew he was taking me to his chambers, because, well, where else was he going to take me? That nagging sensation of hope grew larger as I kept walking alongside King Hamdo, for reasons I didn't understand then. It was almost like my mind was trying to tell me that there was something I could do to end this problem the moment that I gained this forgotten wisdom. My mind works in mysterious ways.

It was a long walk, but totally worth the wait, as I found out later.

Hamdo opened the door to our destination and held out an affable hand to show me that I was supposed to go inside first. Accepting the offer, I walked inside, resting my eyes on Lala-Ru the moment I entered the room. She seemed just as surprised as I was that we were looking at each other. We stared back and forth at each other for a while, at until Hamdo decided to ruin the moment.

"Isn't she absolutely lovely, Matthew?" Hamdo asked, giggling. "My Lala-Ru can do anything."

_She ain't yours yet, bub, _I thought, seeing a blink-and-you'd-miss-it-smile from Lala-Ru, who'd always seemed empathic enough to read thoughts, as I'd noticed several times before, so I didn't question it.

"She's a very lovely person," I agreed. "One of the best I've ever met in my life."

"The best," Hamdo corrected me. "Isn't that right, Lala-Ru?

Lala-Ru stared at him with that blank expression I'd come to understand. There was no feeling in that look; there wasn't…well anything in it, hence blank, man I can't believe I said that. Way to ruin the moment there, Matt. Sheesh.

Ahem.

Hamdo seemed a little annoyed by the silent treatment, and grunted. "She'll help me do whatever I want if she wants her friends to live," he said, grumbling.

So that was why I was there: To make Lala-Ru know that we were there with her and that we'd be harmed if she didn't do as Hamdo said.

I turned to face her and winked, that same feeling propelling me to this madness called joy. Lala-Ru didn't dare smile this time, as Hamdo was looking right at her, but I felt her happiness at my gesture nonetheless.

"Oh there is no doubt she'd help you out, King Hamdo," I said. "I guarantee you that Lala-Ru will help bring peace to you by helping out in the best way possible."

Do you ever say something so out there and seemingly random that no one really gets at the time, but later you find you might as well have spoken it in a manner more befitting a prophet, since things worked out in just the right way to make those random words make sense? It's a nice feeling to have.

Hamdo smiled, seemingly swayed by my words. "Indeed," he said. "Now, Matt, I have something for you to do for me."

_I've got to get out of here now, _I thought, not knowing why. _That damn feeling's making me jump off to crazy solutions, but hey, it's been helping me so far. Now what to do? Might as well be blunt about it._

"Hamdo, with all due respect, go to hell," I said, running away from him, smiling as I rushed off into my impetuous behavior. "I'll come back with help, Lala-Ru!"

If you're thinking about whether or not you're listening to the insane ranting of an impetuous moron, trust me, you're not alone. I still look back on this day and ask myself just what was going on in my head, even though I have a pretty good idea about one of the reasons. It's times like that when I wonder if maybe I'd accidentally taken drugs.

I don't know what Hamdo did after that, nor did I hear any alarms going off after I left him, but why that happened I don't know. I imagine that Hamdo wondered for just a moment if maybe I was crazier than him, or if I'd just been acting sane for some strange reason. Either way, he didn't run after me, didn't yell at me to come back, or even try to get someone to take me back with him.

_I knew someday that my impulsiveness would work in my favor, _I thought as I ran away from them. _At least I think it is. Why am I feeling so strange and acting like this? Wait a second…I know exactly why I am! Ha-ha-ha-ha! I'm a genius!_

That's when I realized one of the reasons why I had felt so good the entire time I'd been inside of _Hellywood_: I'd already prepared for this disaster with something that would ruin the plans of King Hamdo forever. Yeah, I had a game breaking play to make real soon. I laughed at the irony of forgetting exactly what I'd made, feeling carefree as I approached the cells, where I also knew I'd find help to allow my plans come to fruition.

Unfortunately, my newfound carefree attitude hadn't forewarned me about all the lovely soldiers who were in-between the cells and me. Well and that fact that typically when one isn't wearing the uniform of the people near them in an enemy base and they happen to be running away from something inside the aforementioned base, the people in uniforms tend to think the one not wearing uniforms is up to no good.

To put it simply: They shot at me.

Providentially, I managed to avoid the bullets headed my way, but even that small prize couldn't stop the fact that they could still follow me. I quickly devised a scheme to grab one of the men I passed by in the halls, provided he was alone.

One such man appeared around the first corner I ran around, and I attacked him immediately, giving him no time to resist me as I knocked his head into the strong metal walls of _Hellywood_. Taking the advantage of the time I'd gained from the soldiers that had been pursuing me, I stripped him of his clothing inside of one of the adjacent rooms and stashed him inside as I put them on me. Finishing up, I shut the door softly and laid down to the side with the standard _Hellywood_ hat covering my face, just as some of the soldiers approached me.

"He went that way!" I cried out in as different a voice as my vocal cords would grant me. "He's crazy!"

"Follow me!" the lead soldier commanded as they went with him.

I stood up and tipped my hat to their backs. "Too easy, gentlemen, but let's not give you a second chance to find out my scheme," I said, as I turned around to go down the stairs in the opposite direction to the cells.

I arrived at the cells just in time to see Shu beating down the guard with a _shinai_, the very same one no sane guard would allow a prisoner to have.

"Nice work, Shu," I said, holding my hands up when he looked at me and almost pounced me because of what I was wearing. "Hold on, it's me!" I took off the hat. "I took this when I escaped Hamdo. Calm down, Shu."

"Matt?" Sara's voice asked from the other cell. "Is that you?"

"The one and only, beautiful," I said.

"Oh, thank God. Come here quick!"

I looked over at Shu, who followed after me as I approached the cell door, finding Sis's fresh corpse laid out on the floor, and Sara looking at me with puffy red eyes.

"When did this happen?" I asked, knowing I hadn't been gone that long.

"Just a little after you left," Sara said, keeping her voice just composed enough so that it was coherent.

I kept my face straight and let the revelation pour into me, realizing that I wasn't allowing myself to cry just yet. There would be plenty of time to do that as soon as we got everyone to safety.

Shu tossed the keys he'd grabbed from the guard's desk to the kids that had been in his cell, saying, "Unlock all the cells. After that, I want you all to scatter and hide."

"Stay together," I added, watching as Shu approached a bloody body, one that I realized immediately. "Nabuca! Oh, no, what happened to him?"

"He got stabbed. He came all the way here to give me my _shinai_."

Shu grabbed Nabuca's handkerchief and tied it around his still healing hand, in preparation for what we both knew was in store for us.

"I know where he's taking Lala-Ru," I said, catching Shu's attention.

"Where is she?" he demanded of me.

"She was in his chambers, but knowing him, he's probably taking her straight to the power source of _Hellywood_ in order to get this war machine moving again."

"I'm gonna stop this! Once and for all!"

I turned to Sara, looking her in the eye as the kids opened the door to the cell she was in. She saw all she needed to in my eyes.

"Whatever you're planning, Matt, be careful," she said, solemnly.

I grabbed Shu before he could run off in a direction he had no possible way of knowing how to get to without my help. I had, after all, placed _Hellywood's_ schematics and maps to memory when I'd been there the first time.

"Hold on for one second, Shu," I said. "Let me finish something real quickly."

Shu seemed like he was going to run off anyways, but then he halted in place, waiting for me to do what I had to.

I walked inside the cell and bent down beside Sis, closing one eye, while Sara closed the other. "Thanks for everything, Sis," I said. "I don't know where we would've been without you. No one's going to harm your kids ever again, not while I'm alive."

I looked up at Sara, who said, "I'm keeping the baby, Matt."

My eyes lit up, a vibrant feeling of joy filling my mind. Sara and I hadn't really had much time to discuss the baby, mostly because of how she'd gained the baby, and her reluctance to bring up such bad memories, but now it didn't matter that we hadn't talked, because Sara had made up her mind. I smiled at her, and she smiled back.

"Then I'm making the both of you a promise," I said. "One I'll never go back on. Shu and I are going to save Lala-Ru. You take the kids to safety and keep yourself safe as well."

"That's not a promise, Matt," Sara said, sardonically.

"No, no it's not, but I was getting to it. Sara Marie Ringwalt, I promise you that I will not only help Shu save all of us, but that I will come back to you alive, and then stay with you for the rest of my life."

"And what does that mean?" Sara asked, knowing full well what I was trying to imply.

I smiled anyways, wanting to hear myself say it as much as she did. "The moment that this is over, I am going to marry you, Sara. I'm going to stay with you forever and do what I can to keep you safe from harm. You and our child."

Sara stared at me for a moment, as if she hadn't really expected me to make a promise like that, but then smiled. "Aren't you supposed to ask me first before you start making decisions for me, Matt?"

I laughed. "Sorry, sweetheart. Moment of passion overtook my mental processes and I—"

Before I could finish Sara latched onto me and gave me the strongest kiss I'd ever had in my life. I returned the favor immediately, wishing I didn't have to let go, but knew that the union had to end sometime soon. Shu could only wait for so long.

"That a yes?" I asked when we finished, smirking.

"Just get out there and do your job, Matt," Sara said, concealing a grin as she tried to gather the children to her side. "We're going to do ours."

I smiled, stood up, and joined Shu, who was just as impatient as I'd imagined. "Let's go, Shu," I said. "We've got a world to save."

A/N: Alright, so the next chapter will focus on what exactly Matt has planned for Hamdo and _Hellywood_, as well as building up to the end of this fan-fic, which will only have four more chapters after this one. The next chapter should be created sometime during the weekend, but, unfortunately, I shall be on vacation during which time there will be no Internet access, thus crippling my abilities to send this off to the site until at the very least Sunday night, when I shall be heading back home. Until next time.


	27. Chapter 27

"So what is it you have planned?" Shu asked as we ran off into the halls of what I soon hoped would be a severely crippled _Hellywood_ should my plan succeed.

"I don't mean to be so cryptic, Shu, but I really want to make it a surprise," I said as I took the stairs two at a time, yet slow enough to not worry about upsetting my heart anytime soon, at least I hoped so.

"But what if…what if something happens to you and I'm the only one left to take care of it?"

I smiled despite myself. "Thanks for the confidence, kid. I can feel the love here. To answer your question, though, if I die then the plan's screwed."

"Why's that?"

"It's voice activated. I gave it a password that only I can say; otherwise it's really pointless to have it at all. Trust me, it'll all work out, Shu."

"I never said I didn't!" Shu protested.

"Then maybe next time don't phrase or start off any questions you have with the words 'What if something happens to you,'" I said, rolling my eyes. "Otherwise all you do is make me feel bad about my future."

I grabbed Shu by the back of his shirt and pulled him back as I put a hand over his mouth, because I'd heard voices ahead.

"We're wasting time!" he protested as he pushed off of me to get back on his path to reach Hamdo and Lala-Ru in time to save her.

"Stupid, impetuous fool," I said, as I followed after him, only realizing the irony in my statement after a moment's wait. "That's not funny."

Shu in the lead, we kept up on the stairs, knocking _Hellywood_ soldiers to the side as they approached us, not even knowing that we were headed toward them. It was quite satisfying to hurt some of these faceless goons of Hamdo's, to tell the truth, kid. I can't really say that I'm proud of myself for doing that or for feeling that way at all, but I guess that it's really up to the Big Man to decide whether or not it's truly bad or not. Anyways, I was having a grand ole time knocking those subservient morons right down the stairs, as I wished every time that it was Hamdo or Kazam I was pushing down.

Kazam was on my mind particularly during that short period of my life. I wasn't too happy with him, if I can be frank. I mean, who wouldn't be mad at him for what he'd done to us? He had driven us away from our homes by letting King Hamdo know exactly where we were in Zari-Bars. Not to mention what he'd done for Sara, which I was still trying to figure out the reasons behind it. It seemed like some needless noble sacrifice that was just beyond my ability to understand the intricacies of it. Unfortunately, I find myself able to understand him now. Have I ever told you how much hindsight sucks to deal with in well, hindsight? I really, really despise it with every fiber of my being and you should too. Okay, maybe I'm being a bit too authoritative for my own good, but that could be a good thing now, all things considered. I ranted again, didn't I? I do that a lot.

Anyways, Shu and I were taking care of anyone in our path, while not even trying to stay quiet about doing it either, which sounds really stupid not that I say that out loud, but against all odds it worked out. (Then again, I don't believe in odds, so, uh, yeah.)

I was trying to remember the exact way to the inner power station of _Hellywood_, while also attempting to keep my more eager friend from doing anything that would stop me from gaining my bearings, as he had a tendency to jump off in the wrong direction, as he didn't know the battle station as well as I did. I corrected that by going in front again.

On the way up, I spotted Tabool and one of his squad mates near him, making me mad, and I kind of, well, I slammed him into the wall and ran off with Shu upstairs to the spot that we needed to go to in order to enact my plan. Yeah, that was very therapeutic to do to that snot-nosed little brat. What happened to him was way too good for him.

"It's this way!" I told Shu as we heard people moving behind us to intercept us in an attempt to stop whatever we were doing.

We raced up the stairs as a stray bullet barely passed by Shu's head, missing him by a hair's length. I finally found the door to the control room I wanted to go to, and sent Shu inside as I slammed the door shut behind us, finishing it off by bolting it closed as tightly as possible to buy us some more time.

"Okay, what now?" Shu asked.

"Stay still for a couple seconds, Shu," I said, moving over to one of the nearby computers. "I have to make sure I can access my plan first. Make sure no one comes through that door."

Shu held his _shinai_ in front of him and stared at the door, while I fumbled around and tried to find the proper access to my little package. It was sealed tightly within the inner workings of _Hellywood's_ operating center, so more than likely it was impossible for someone to have found it, let alone delete or disable it, so I knew my chances of getting it done properly were very high indeed.

While I was busy working, Shu managed to discover something that I had missed in the room, or the giant glass window in the middle of the floor. Looking down it, Shu found Hamdo and Abelia standing near Lala-Ru, and he, being his usual self, instantly started to try and break through the window, despite the fact that we were a fair distance away from the very likely fatal fall.

"Open up in there!" Tabool thundered from outside the door, as he or someone else attempted to get in.

"Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin!" I shouted back, wondering if anyone in this time besides myself would get the reference and cursing the fact that humanity had been stupid enough to lose its literature when it decided it'd be a cool idea to destroy the world that everyone lived and depended on.

The doors, however, opened up, and Tabool and the same guy that I had seen just a bit earlier came charging in, just as Shu whacked the unnamed guy over the head with his _shinai_. Tabool seemed frightened by the unexpected attack and fired off his gun with a high amount of recklessness, barely missing the glass window.

I ducked behind the computer as I narrowed down my search, figuring out that I had indeed managed to successfully keep the package sufficiently safe during my long absence from _Hellywood_. However, Tabool almost ended my chances of completing my quest, as he fired at me, hitting the back of one of the monitors instead. The other guy picked himself up off the floor and went after Shu, just as Tabool did the same. Shu took a nearby chair and used it as a shield to intercept the bullet, and then took the same chair and knocked out the other soldier before he could react.

Tabool fired once more, but missed again, his aim getting worse every time that he started to get angrier. I went to take care of Tabool before he could shoot Shu with accuracy, but Shu was too fast for me and had already attacked Tabool, barely missing him with his _shinai_, which had the unexpected result of messing up one of the computers near them, and it crackled with white energy surrounding it.

"Nice work, Shu," I said, using the distraction to further my own plan."

"What do you think you're doing, fool?" Tabool said, smirking at me as he then raised his sidearm. "No one can defeat King Hamdo like this, and especially not you. It'll take someone with my genius to do it."

"That so?" I asked, amused. "I guess I am powerless next to you very powerful men."

"Since you can admit it, you can take that as your last thought."

"Sorry, but I have other ideas, punk," I said as I smiled and shouted right into the microphone that went out to all of _Hellywood_, "I love you, Sara Marie Ringwalt!"

For a moment, nothing happened, and Tabool and Shu just looked at me, as they probably wondered about the state of my sanity. I must admit that I had my own doubts about the issue at hand, and was beginning to think that someone must have found what I'd implanted into the systems of _Hellywood_, despite the lengths I'd gone through so that they wouldn't be able to find it or disable it.

Sometimes I worry about nothing for no reason other than to worry about nothing.

The results were impressive to say the least, much better than I had predicted they would be. I knew it wouldn't work as fast as I wanted or take care of everything the way I really wanted it to, but sometimes you have to take what life gives you.

I mentioned a long time ago that I had certain skills that involved the Internet and its wonders. One of the things I wasn't that proud of knowing how to do was something that we called "virus-making" back in the day. Viruses to you mean the infections that you get from terrible things in the environment that are designed to mess up your systems in ways that aren't the greatest things in the world to deal with. Viruses to me mean that, as well as the wonderful definition that means "Stuff that screws up computers and things that work on computers." There were several types of these viruses, but the one that I know the best was called a Trojan, after a mythical horse that caused an entire city to be destroyed based on the way it was brought inside the city. It's a good story, and I hope that I can speak in length about this later with you, God willing.

Trojans are designed—just like their mythical counterpart—to be issued inside of computer operating systems as a seemingly innocent file that embeds itself there to bide its time in order to stretch out its presence to begin its assault. Trojans, after a small time, then infect every file on that computer and, in some cases, even delete every single thing in their path, leaving the computer defenseless against it, as very few of what we called "virus detection programs" could fight it in time.

_Hellywood's_ protection systems were—as I stated a long time ago—little more than a joke. Cyber warfare clearly wasn't one of the things they worried about ever since the technology started to die off. Guess that's their loss, right? Poor little suckers never saw this coming. If I hadn't gone through so much crap, I'd complain about how easy it was to even design and put a virus inside of the battle station.

My personal Trojan—that I'd dubbed the "package" as well as "Armageddon" to just be pointlessly biblical about it—had successfully infiltrated the entirety of every one of the systems of the battle station, effectively bringing them under my control. Granted, I couldn't do everything I wanted to do with them, otherwise this story would be much shorter, but I gained enough control to do some damage. The only system on the station that I didn't attack was the time tunnel room, because it would have been stupid to go out and disable something as important as that, since, you know, Sara, Shu, and I might need that later on to go back home if we chose to do so.

However, the only part I truly cared about was the selected password that I had used to get this virus activated. To me, it meant everything to give it as deep a meaning to my personal life as I did the night I crafted it. If you can remember that far back, I wasn't on the best terms with Sara, even if what I said makes it sound differently. You can be a little happy with the one you love in terrible times, but actually that means nothing when certain issues still cloud over your minds. Sara being raped and my inability to stop it for instance. Nothing was more important to me at that point in time than getting her out of there and safe from harm. I knew that I couldn't take back everything that had been done to her, but I could at least let her know how I felt about her.

The words really mean a lot to me, and when she heard them as she was fleeing with the children in her possession, she stopped herself and tried not to cry, failing to do so, and not even caring that she hadn't been able to keep herself from doing so. It means the world to me to know that she heard that, and that it meant just as much to her as it did for me to hear it that day.

Every single electrical machine on _Hellywood_ started to crackle and explode, just as I had planned it months before in a fit of desperation. A board blew up near Tabool, and he held his hand out in front of his face to avoid getting hit with shrapnel, allowing Shu and me enough time to seek out other ways of ending the threat of Hamdo's reign. My virus could only do so much after all; we needed to make sure no one could rebuild this death machine.

The glass window in the center of the floor almost collapsed upon itself from the massive shaking the destruction of the machines had caused, but it remained just a bit intact, and it still prevented us from reaching and saving Lala-Ru. I took a glance down in her direction, finding that she was staring up at Shu and me with the oddest look of dazed puzzlement, almost as if she couldn't believe that we'd succeeded in causing this much destruction in order to save her.

It's nice to not meet someone's expectations of you every now and then, am I right?

In the time that it had taken me to look at Lala-Ru and study her facial features, Shu and Tabool had attacked one another again, and they were on the floor, with Shu's _shinai_ blocking Tabool's attempts to shoot him. I wondered what I could to in order to help out my friend, but every possibility I came up with just ended up making everything worse, so I stopped myself, and watched the scene unfold before me.

In the midst of their struggle, Shu forced Tabool's weapon to the left, and Tabool accidentally shot it, ending up with the bullet penetrating and damaging the glass window in a way that almost caused them to fall down to their deaths. Shu kicked Tabool off of him and forced him into the wall, just as the glass underneath Shu began to implode on itself.

"Shu!" I shouted, realizing that my friend was about to fall. "Hold on; I'm coming for you!"

I leapt over to him and tried to grab his hands before he fell, but right when I did the glass lost its ability to hold itself together, and Shu dropped down, but managed to hold onto the floor with his legs, barely keeping himself up. He was hanging upside down there, and I rushed off to pick him back up, just as I heard Hamdo screaming below us.

Shu looked down and found Lala-Ru, exclaiming, "Lala-Ru!"

I heard a gun click to my left and looked over to see Tabool holding it right to my head, as he shouted, "You're dead!"

And Shu and I would've been dead, had it not been for a sudden flood of water that came from below us that washed us away from Tabool, who gasped for breath in the tempest. Before I knew it Shu and I were on the metal platform that Hamdo, Abelia, and Lala-Ru had been on below us, letting me know that she'd taken us down safely.

A massive surge of energy accompanied the path that the virus I'd created had taken, causing twice the damage at a more reasonable rate than I could have hoped for. The water from Lala-Ru's pendant proved to be far more effective in destroying the many systems of _Hellywood_ than anything I'd cooked up, but at least I can say that I helped to start the destruction.

"What's that?" Hamdo asked, pointing at Shu and me with fear in his eyes.

I liked that look; it suited him just nice.

"Shuzo Matsutani!" Shu proclaimed, as he brought out his _shinai_.

"Matthew Soterios King!" I added, as I balled my fists. "And I'm here to put the fear of God in you, Hamdo!"


	28. Chapter 28

A/N: Sorry for the lateness here, but I had some minor troubles during my break with my Microsoft Word. Please let me know if there's anything that I need to rewrite or fix here. Thanks in advance.

If it weren't for the fact that Hamdo was a notorious psychopath and murderer, his facial expressions would be downright comical to look at in person. As he listened to Shu and I introducing ourselves, he stared at us while he pointed his finger at us, wearing this completely ridiculous look that told me that he was unable to understand one thing that had just happened to him. His mind never was able to make logical leaps that well.

Unfortunately, he was able to yell out the words, "Kill them!" to Abelia, who then proceeded to whip out her sidearm in an attempt to get us out of the way.

I was disappointed with her to say the least. After all I'd learned about her origins here she was still dancing along to the beat that Hamdo was playing. Then again, I really shouldn't sound so condescending to her, especially considering what she later did for us down the road.

Abelia couldn't get the shots off at first due to the mechanical failures that were the direct fault of Lala-Ru and myself. "It's overheating!" Abelia shouted in response, talking about the main power sources of _Hellywood_, I believe, but I don't know that for a fact, so take that as you will.

Shu, Lala-Ru, and me were all held up against the railing of the catwalk we were on, trying to stay on it and away from the explosions and errant water around us. After some time, though, the catwalk became more stable and Shu and I jumped up and went after Hamdo, knowing he had to be taken out if we were truly going to be safe. I didn't know how I really felt about murdering someone, even if that person was Hamdo, but I knew in my heart that if someone like him were ever left alive, then he'd find another way to spread despair into the world he or she lived in.

Abelia pointed her sidearm at us, her aim shaky from the continuous movement of the battle station as it tore itself apart. Shu and I stared back at her, with Shu holding up his _shinai_ and me clenching my fists.

She fired first, missing Shu by inches, as he and I approached her, and Shu forced the gun out of her hands with his _shinai_. Abelia cried out in surprise and fell backwards onto the catwalk. We stared once more at each other, Shu and I unwilling to fight her when she was down, but something changed all that: The gun that Shu had forced from her hands was now in the possession of Hamdo, who fired it at us, grazing Abelia on her right shoulder. He fired once more, missing me by Lord knows how many nanometers, and tried again, once more hitting his loyal subordinate.

"Die!" Hamdo yelled, a crazed sneer on his face.

In unison, Shu and I leapt after him, Shu hitting him in the gut before Hamdo could manage to bring his gun down, and me offering a shot to the kidneys. Shu yelled like a man possessed, as he continued the attack, while I kicked Hamdo right in the ribs, eliciting a pained cry from him at our combined blows. While I backed off for a little to recuperate, Shu continued the assault, his _shinai_ noticeably losing more and more of its parts every time he landed a blow, until it eventually shattered in his hands when Shu hit Hamdo while he was whimpering on his knees, while his hands were protecting the back of his head.

Shu yelled once more as he raised his hands into the air, while Hamdo tried to get up and flee, but Shu threw the remaining fragments of his _shinai_ at him, forcing the once proud dictator to run off from us, while I started to go after him, but Abelia pushed me out of the way.

"King Hamdo!" she yelled, as she went for him.

I watched as Abelia ran after the former King Hamdo, laughing as they both fled from us, just as a sharp jolt in my chest brought my attention to what I should have been worrying about the entire time my adrenaline was pumping in the brief fight: Keeping my heart under at least some form of control. I clutched my chest for a moment, barely able to register the fact that my heart was doing the one thing I'd tried to avoid for years, and that this time I knew that it was the final one.

I fell down, unable to stop myself from succumbing to the massive pressures that formed inside of my body. The agony was immense, more so when I thrashed my head back and hit the railing behind me, yet I wasn't given a moment's respite to deal with that problem when the pain coursed through my nerves, bringing the intensities all over my already weary body.

Really, I should have expected this to happen to me. I'd just spent the last days of my life in as stressed a time as anyone without a heart condition could take, let alone one who actually had one. Almost dying when I attacked Kazam in a blood-filled rage, almost losing Sara when she tried to kill herself, losing Zari-Bars when Hamdo invaded, and I'd just gotten out of a fight with two trigger-happy soldiers, only to be transported away from them in a magical bubble that protected me against a crushing tide of water. And now I'd just fought against the person I was most pissed off at for causing everything bad that had happened to Sara, Shu, Lala-Ru, Sis, the others, and myself. It was only logical that my body wouldn't be able to contain that much stress going on at once.

What Shu and Lala-Ru were doing while that was going on, I don't know, and I imagine that they must have panicked at first—well, Shu at the very least—and wondered what they could do to stop whatever was messing me up.

Grabbing the side of the railing, I tried to stand back up, but the pain spiraled up for another round of torture and I fell face first into the metal catwalk.

I knew it was the end of me. I had already gone through one heart attack too many in my life, especially for someone who wasn't supposed to live through as many as I did. My time on this wondrous and magnificent earth was over with, and so was my promise to Sara to be with her once this was over.

I've talked a couple of times about dying, but knowing you will die and actually being there to experience it are two different things. I'd faced my own mortality several times in the course of my life, but they were nothing like this one. This one felt so…final to me, like I wouldn't be walking away from it joking all the while.

But that didn't bother me at all; I'd come to terms with my death a long time ago. It was Sara I was worried about. She'd just found herself again and knew what she had to do in life again, and she'd also thought I'd be able to be there with her. In that short spot of time, I imagined Shu explaining to her that I was gone and that there was nothing that they could do to save me. He told Sara that I was a hero and that I'd sacrificed myself in order to save everyone else from Hamdo and his insane ideals. I imagined the look on Sara's face and the tears I knew she'd try to hold back on, and wondered what she would do after I was gone. Would they bury me? Would there be a body to bury when the once mighty _Hellywood_ fell to the earth in its death throes? Would Sara be able to go back home with Shu once they found a way to operate the time tunnel? What would she tell my family? Her dad? Would she even be able to describe what had happened to them without succumbing to renewed depression? What about the kids? Who would take care of them once Sara and Shu left?

_I can't die, _I told myself, as I stared blankly up into the ceilings of the place that I had just fought off Hamdo in with Shu not twenty seconds ago. _I can't die. I need to get back up and help them! I can't die!_

"_I CAN'T DIE!_" I roared as my body ignored my protests when I tried to get back up and stand on my own two feet.

It was then that I noticed an orb of blue energy surrounding my body, causing my eyes to widen and drift over to where Lala-Ru was sitting on her knees, her hands both covering up her pendant. It took me a while to figure out just what she was doing, but the moment that I felt the pains that were causing my body to twitch and spasm going away, I knew that my savior had come to rescue me.

Lala-Ru spoke to me…but it wasn't out loud; it was more of a whisper that we hear in the mind every now and then. "My power is leaving me as we speak," she said, her voice low and concentrated. "I give you some of what remains in order to thank you for the way that you have helped me during the time that we have known each other. I know that you hated me for what happened to Sara, but I also know that you forgave me, even when I hadn't asked for it. Use the life I offer you now to go and save Sara—who I also forgive—and get to safety; she is seven floors beneath us. Shu and I have to finish up elsewhere."

I was dumbstruck at first, unable to form even the simplest of cogent sentences to offer my thanks to the majestic woman in front of me, but I saw her smile at me when she finished healing me, and I knew that she was aware of my feelings.

Shu, meanwhile, was staring at the spectacle with the awe that comes when you keep seeing magnificent things happen almost every day, which is just my way of saying that he looked at it if he'd never seen anything like it before. When miracles come into your life, even if they happen on a regular basis, never get old to witness. Every single time that they happen my heart is filled with wonder and amazement.

Lala-Ru finished up a moment later and looked at me with curiosity on her face. I touched my chest and waited for the pain to come back, but to my genuine surprise, there was nothing there to worry about. My heart was perfectly fine.

My heart had been healed.

I was alive, truly alive for the first time in two years.

I stood up and nodded at them. "I've got to go find Sara," I said, determination filling my face according to Shu's later account to me. "You do what you have to do in order to stay safe."

Before they could answer I ran out the door, knowing where to go based on Lala-Ru's directions. I'd been able to run several times since I'd lost control of my heart, but they were always careful runs, designed to let me go fast, but not to exert myself in a way that caused me too much stress. But this time, I really cut loose when I rampaged down the soaked hallways of the dying battle station once called _Hellywood_. It was so freeing to do something as simple as run with reckless abandon, so much that I almost lost place of what I was supposed to be doing, but thankfully my mind restored my original purpose in sprinting when I'd traveled down four flights of stairs.

I'm coming, Sara, I promised, scaling down another group of stairs.

Hopping over a few odd dead bodies consisting of both _Hellywood_ soldiers and former civilians from Zari-Bars, I tried not to look at them and imagining Sara's face on the many dead women I had to jet by.

I heard rushing water from the floor below me and watched as a piece of the wall collapsed and fell down into the space beneath it, reaching a river of the water that Lala-Ru had created to end _Hellywood's _threat. I also saw Sara and about twelve of the kids that she'd looked after, as well as at least two that were dressed in _Hellywood_ attire that couldn't be more than six years old.

"Sara!" I cried out as I looked down the hole

She looked up to see me and a smile flashed on her face. "Matt!" she cried out. "You're okay!"

"As okay as I'll ever be, sweetheart," I said. "Hold on, I'm coming to get you guys out of here."

"We'll be fine, just—" Sara started to say, but then she shouted out, "Musa! No!"

I turned my head over in the direction where a small child—one of the ones that were garbed in the traditional _Hellywood_ uniform—had slipped and fallen into the water. I immediately picked myself up and descended the closest set of stairs that I could see and rushed down to where Sara and the kids were.

The moment I found them, I didn't pay attention to where Musa had fallen, as I'd figured the river had washed him away, so I'd settled on saving Sara, who was dangling from a broken piece of the walkway they were on. I dove onto it and grabbed her arm, trying to say something smart and brave, but the crumbling of yet another part of the walkway, thankfully far enough from us drowned out what I intended to say.

Sara and I looked up to see if maybe Musa had made it and were astonished to see that Kazam was standing in the middle of the distance between broken walkways, as he held the small child in his arms. Our eyes met for a second, and I had a feeling that he'd been following after Sara in order to keep her safe. I don't know if he ever saw the look I gave him in that short moment, but I like to think that he knew that I was grateful for his help.

Kazam struggled against the waters and approached us, offering Musa to Sara, who was closest to him. "Here!" he gasped, the strain getting to him.

Sara grabbed the back of Musa's uniform and brought him to us as I held onto her to keep her from slipping off of the walkway, our attention focused on everything but what was happening around us. Sara tugged with all her strength, eventually bringing Musa to dry land. Musa saved, Sara and I looked back to find Kazam, who was no longer in view, the victim of his own heroism. Sara and I exchanged a mournful glance together, and picked ourselves up with Musa in tow to get back to the other kids, who were as delighted to see me as I was to see them. I smiled at them and ruffled the closest one's hair.

_Thank you for everything, Kazam, _I thought, trying not to look back at the slowly rising waters. _I wish I'd treated you better, but you've always looked out for me, even if I didn't understand you all the time. Rest in peace, my friend. _

"Everybody ready to leave?" I asked the kids.

I didn't get a verbal response, but the smiles on their faces were enough for me to know what my friends were thinking about.

"Then let's go," Sara said, dropping Musa in front of her as we rushed off to stop the raging water from filling up the room we were in.

We managed to find several corridors that weren't waterlogged and went down them to reach the bottom of _Hellywood_, where we knew we'd be safe from the massive flood above us for some reason. Another one of those things that you just naturally know in life, I suppose.

"Matt, thanks," Sara said, blushing at something I'd obviously forgotten about in the excitement.

"For what?" I asked, confused.

"For the message that everyone heard. That I heard."

I smiled and winked at her, finally realizing just what she was talking about, and said, "Anytime, beautiful."

"Where are Shu and Lala-Ru?" Sara asked as we neared the exits.

"They had something else to take care of," I said, grinning to myself. "I would've stopped them, but I was too grateful to say anything."

"Grateful? Why were you grateful, Matt?"

I guided the kids in front of me down a safer passage, still grinning. "Sara, would you believe me if I told you I've got a new lease on life?"

"And what's that supposed to mean?" she asked, as she picked up one of the little girls that had stumbled.

"Sara, why can I run as fast as I am right now without trying to slow myself down to protect myself?"

Sara gave me a look and I kept on grinning. "But how, Matt? How did it happen?"

"The same way that I was healed a while back when Hamdo beat me up: Lala-Ru. After Shu and I finished fighting Hamdo I started to have another heart attack, and I was beginning to think it'd be my last, but then she came and stopped it from killing me."

"That's—I almost can't believe it, but after all we've seen I don't see why that can't happen."

"Looks like you're going to have to deal with me for another fifty years or so."

"Lucky me."

"Hey!"

Sara giggled; it was a vibrant giggle, one that I'd missed immensely since being taken away from our homes. If it was even humanly possible to do so, my grin widened even further in response.

That same feeling of just knowing came over me and dominated my thoughts as we exited the dead battle station.

Everything was going to be okay.

The remaining survivors—both captive and soldier—stood as far away from the former scourge of the desert world as possible, all watching it in amazement, as if none of them had ever considered the likelihood that even the greatest weapons can be destroyed given the right amount of resistance. I had to admit I had my doubts as well, but I shoved them aside in order to focus on the kids and Sara, who was already leading them as far away from the falling battle station as she could.

I picked up two of the slower kids and ran out in front of the others to try and coax them into running as fast as I was, hoping they'd think of it as some sort of fun game, rather than a path for survival. Kids—even those who have experienced the harsh realities of life—still need their imagination to keep the grief from consuming them, as I'd learned in my brief time in this future desert world.

Surprisingly, though, the battle station remained upright, despite all the damage that had been delivered to it by both my computer virus and Lala-Ru's, um, flood attack thingy. I stared at it with my eyebrow furled, wondering how the heck it could do that, but Sara brought my attention elsewhere when she grabbed my shoulder and turned me around to stare out into the paradox in front of us: An entire lake of water in what had once been a desolate desert.

It was immense, looking like it could stretch out for miles on end, possibly even past the part of the world that we'd been in. The cerulean mass before us was amazingly vast and brilliant to look at.

"How…the heck…?" I asked, unable to finish my sentence.

"She gave it to us," Sara said, bringing my attention back to her. "Lala-Ru must have decided that we deserved a second chance."

Sara smiled at me, and I returned it, just as I looked back out into the water. It wasn't more than a couple feet in front of me. It was tantalizing to look at, especially since the largest quantity of water I'd seen had consisted of a glorified pool in the middle of system of caverns.

Before I could stop myself I approached it and bent down to take a scoop of it—not once thinking about the probability of it being saltwater—and drank what was left in my hand, finding a sweet liquid that invigorated my taste buds.

"Amazing, it's actually real!" I shouted out as I looked back to Sara and the kids. "Come on and try it, Sara! Kids, come on!"

Emboldened by my impetuous move, Sara and the kids soon gathered around the water, finding it as refreshing as I had. The peopled amassed outside the somehow still standing _Hellywood_ mostly stared at the new and strange addition to their world, never once having been near anything that was close to its design in their lives. Eventually others came to the water and filled their mouths with its succulent flavor.

I wanted to go out and swim in it, a childish desire filling my mind that I almost couldn't control. I couldn't help myself; I hadn't seen a great body of water in a very long time, and now here it was right in front of me, just waiting to be swum in by yours truly. I never once considered the impossibilities of how an entire planet—at least I assumed at the time that the entire planet was experiencing the same thing—could suddenly gain a vast amount of water and be able to support it efficiently. Why should I? There it was, proof positive right in front of me, so why bother to think about impossibilities that clearly weren't so impossible.

I felt a tugging in the back of my mind to look back at _Hellywood_ and found that Sara was doing the same. We both looked up at the highest part of the recently deceased battle station, locating Shu holding Lala-Ru as the two watched the crimson sunset.

"Well, well," I said, smirking, "looks like I'm not the only one who gets the girl."

Sara rolled her eyes. (Honestly, I'm lucky that that's all that happened.)

But I began to regret my statement a moment later, when I started to notice that Lala-Ru didn't look corporeal to my eyes. I closed them and rubbed them, but when I looked out again, Lala-Ru was fading right before my very eyes, eventually vanishing from view entirely. Sara and I both gasped as we witnessed it, unable to figure out what had happened. Shu—for a moment—kept holding on to the air that had once been filled with Lala-Ru's body.

It took me a while to figure it out, but it dawned on me a few seconds later. "Her work's done," I said, remembering what she'd told me about her power leaving her. "She has to go back home now. Thanks, Lala-Ru…for everything."

"I'm sorry for everything I did to you," Sara said, taking my hand as she watched Shu discover Lala-Ru had left our plane of existence. "I hope you can forgive me for what I did to you."

"She did," I said. When Sara looked over to me I added, "When she was healing me, Lala-Ru said that, 'I know that you hated me for what happened to Sara, but I also know that you forgave me, even when I hadn't asked for it. Use the life I offer you now to go and save Sara—who I also forgive—and get to safety.' At least that's how I think she said it."

Sara nodded. "What was she, Matt?"

I shrugged. "I don't think we're meant to know, Sara. I'll settle for an angel for now, though."

"Matt, look at the sun," Sara said, her voice different somehow.

Curious, I turned around to look at the sunset, and found it changing from the once menacing crimson to a brilliant and beautiful yellow. I've never been so glad to see the color yellow in my life.

"Looks like we got our second chance after all," I said, as Sara and I watched the sun finally set in the distance.

A/N: Alright, just two more chapters to go, my friends. Next one will focus on the fallout from the destruction of _Hellywood_, as well as some important decisions that need to be made by everyone involved. It should be out soon, maybe by tomorrow if I can get the time to write it. Until next time.


	29. Chapter 29

It's almost hard to believe that this story of mine's ending up, kid. I'm amazed that I actually managed to remember everything as vividly as I did when I started talking into this machine to let you know about it. However, there's still more left to tell, so hold on for a few minutes more as I reveal everything else you need to know.

If you can imagine how difficult it is to describe what happened next, I'd say that you would be absolutely right. I've been mulling over how to tell you about this the past couple of days, but I really didn't have a set plan to offer, so here's what I can think of right off the top of my head.

Sara, the kids, and me tried to gather everyone together as the battle station finally fell down and collapsed near us—miraculously with some of its major and even some of its minor systems still intact—but it was pure chaos at first. The citizens of Zari-Bars all wanted to make the former soldiers of _Hellywood_ pay for what they'd done by killing them all, which, to be perfectly honest, I could identify with somewhat. Far be it for me to lie to you, because I really wanted to get rid of some of those soldiers, especially the ones like Pashahanta—who managed to escape the battle station only to end up with bits of the falling debris paralyzing him from the waist down—but I'm no executioner and it's not up to me to decide who will live and who will die, as far as I'm concerned that's a God thing.

The soldiers and civilians alike almost clashed as the sun finished its descent to bring in the night, but someone stopped them; someone more well-versed in the manners of using charisma to influence people into heading into the right direction. Fresh from his loss of Lala-Ru, Shuzo Matsutani descended from the remnants of _Hellywood_ to set us all straight.

"Everyone stop it!" he roared the moment before hostilities would have started. "Stop it right now!"

To my surprise, everyone did indeed stop at his command, more than likely the result of the rumors that had spread that day of the man who'd singlehandedly destroyed _Hellywood_. (Despite my ego, apparently no one thought to include me in the previously mentioned destruction for some reason.) They all watched as Shu stared them down with a fierce look in his eyes.

"Don't you people get it?" Shu asked. "Why do you think you're all alive right now? Why do you think we've all been given a second chance?"

No one answered him. Sara and I knew why, but we decided through a mutual glance that we'd leave it up to Shu to work out.

"It was because of Lala-Ru!" Shu shouted. "She saw that we have good in us and that we can stop fighting each other if we try hard enough! Do you want to waste the life that she gave us by killing the people you don't like when all we have to do is forgive each other and start over? Please stop all the fighting!"

(Honestly, if I wasn't one of Shu's biggest fans, I would have called him a no-good, dirty hippie, but the man made sense, so I said nothing at all to contradict him.)

I looked to the crowd that consisted of newly-freed soldiers and former captives brought together by a man who I was sure no longer existed. Soon enough, one side—I can't remember which one—dropped the weapons in their hands and the other side did as well, eventually with both groups meeting each other in the center and talking things out, which was even more staggering to view than the laying down of weapons. In not but four seconds, generations of hate had seemingly died.

I smiled as the scene unfolded before us, holding onto Sara's hand as the two of us approached Shu, who seemed glad to see us there safe and sound.

"Thanks, Shu," I said, offering my hand. "We tried to get these misfits together, but apparently we're just not as good as you are."

We laughed, as Shu shook my hand, but there was a mild coldness to it. "Why did she have to leave, Matt?" he asked, surprising me with a conversation I wasn't prepared for at all.

Sara—thank God—took up the slack for me by saying, "She did what she was meant to do, Shu. It was her time to go."

Shu, crestfallen, sighed.

I placed my hand on his shoulder, sending a disarming smile, which—for once in my misbegotten life—worked on the person I was working on. "She used up all of her power to save us, Shu, you know that," I said. "She just couldn't exist here anymore."

"I'm going to miss her," he said, frowning.

"You and me both, Shu. All of us will."

"Well, I—" Shu started to say, but he was interrupted by the sounds of a woman screaming in the distance.

The three of us looked up toward the wreckage of _Hellywood_—where the screams emanated from—and spied a lone hand trying to pull the body it was attached to out of the rubble. Acting on pure instinct I rushed off to get to her in time, barely avoiding the broken pieces of metal that surely would've killed me if I'd been unfortunate enough to slip and fall on them. I could hear Shu and Sara running behind me, but there weren't near as fast as I was—which was something I really needed to get used to—and I made it to the woman first, finding, to my shock, that it was Abelia.

When she noticed that I was standing above her, Abelia's head drooped, as if she were resigning herself to her fate. "Just make it quick," she said.

_Make what quick? _I asked myself. _What does she—Oh, she means make killing her quick. Sorry, sweetheart, but that's not how I do things._

By that time Sara and Shu had met up with me, while I examined the wreckage that kept Abelia trapped beneath them. There was a rogue iron beam situated right above her legs. If we could move that out of the way, then we could get her out of there safely.

"Sara, move some of that smaller rubble over there out of the way while Shu and me take care of this beam here," I said. "Hey, Abelia, look at me."

A puzzled expression on her face, Abelia raised her head to look me in the eyes.

"Get ready to move out of there as quickly as possible," I said. "When Shu and me take care of that beam it means that the stuff it's holding up will fall down and kill you if you don't move quick enough. Do you understand?"

Abelia nodded, still unsure of my motives.

I turned to look at Sara, who was already moving several of the lesser pieces of metal out of the way, which would prove invaluable once Shu and I tried to move that gigantic beam out of the way. Shu had moved over to one side of the beam and was waiting for me to get there. I approached the right side of the beam and tried to guess how much it weighed, but figured it didn't matter in the end. We'd either succeed and save Abelia or fail and get her killed.

"Ready?" I asked Shu, as Sara came to his side as well to help him life it up.

"Ready," they said in unison.

"Then lift!" I shouted out as we brought up the iron beam, while Abelia hurried out from underneath it, right as the effort caused the metal rods above the beam to fall down, narrowly missing her.

Struggling with everything I had in me, I finally let go of the beam just as Shu and Sara did the same. The beam fell to the ground and we rushed off to two different sides, barely missing the other dropping wreckage as it hit the sandy ground beneath it.

Sighing deeply, I let out a small laugh, glad that it had worked. Looking over to my left, I saw Abelia trying to stand up, but having some difficulty due to the pressure exerted from the beam that had almost crushed her legs. She looked back at me, waiting for whatever decision I'd made about her to come to pass.

"What happened to Hamdo?" I asked in as friendly a tone as I could offer.

"He's dead," Abelia said, deadpan.

"He's dead?" Shu repeated, surprised by the sudden news. "How?"

"He attempted to get into the bound system to go back into the past, but he could not operate it by himself, so he tried to contact me in order to save him. I followed after him to find him raving madly in the middle of the room, panicking as four separate waves of water drowned him. He didn't make it."

"And how does that make you feel?" I asked.

"Relieved, if you must know. I finally saw him for what he was in his final days on this planet: A madman. I have realized it too late, though. I will accept any form of punishment that you deem necessary."

"Punishment?" Sara repeated, her eyebrow raised. "We're not going to punish you."

"Absolutely not," I said.

"And why would that be?" Abelia asked, her tone still devoid of emotion. "Why am I not to be punished for my actions in causing the deaths of untold thousands in this world? I could have stopped it at any time if I wanted to, could I not have?"

"Maybe, but we're not going to kill you because of that. You made some mistakes in your life, Abelia, and I get the sense that you want to make up for them. You and I both know your history. You were taken away from your people and forced to serve that madman. Better you learn your lesson now than never."

"That's right!" Shu added. "We'll make sure that no one hurts you, Abelia."

And in that moment I saw a side of Abelia that I'd only seen once before, back when I'd discovered her past. Her face changed from a monotone of nothingness to, at first, a subtle rising of her cheeks, and then later on a full-fledged smile of gratitude.

"Thank you," she said.

"It's alright," I said. "It's them we'll have to convince."

I pointed out the massive crowd ahead of us, who'd been watching our exchange with mild interest which had peaked the moment some of them discovered that we'd just saved Abelia from the wreckage. Some of them looked hostile and others looked ready to kill her, which was something we couldn't have happen.

"I can get you back home safely in exchange for my freedom," Abelia said, as she revealed a portion of _Hellywood_ that wasn't completely annihilated. "I can reactivate the bound system and take you back to your families to make up for what I did."

I took it that the bound system referred to the time tunnel I'd so nicknamed, which meant that all three of us had a ticket straight home.

"Matt, can I talk with you for a moment?" Sara asked before I could answer Abelia. "It's very important."

I looked over to her and saw the serious glint in her eyes and nodded my head. "Sure thing, beautiful," I said as I followed her away from Shu and Abelia.

Sara brought me over to where the kids had been standing while we were dealing with Abelia's problems. Some of them were playing a game of tag to keep themselves at least a little bit entertained. I smiled at them, knowing they'd finally have a somewhat safer world to live in now that _Hellywood_ was gone from their worries.

"We can't leave them behind, Matt," Sara said, staring at them with me.

"You want to take them home with us?" I asked. "I'm sure that'd be real easy to do. Then again we'd have to explain just why we disappeared only to have fifty plus kids with us the moment we came back."

"I'm not going back."

Furling my eyebrow, I looked over to Sara and found the most serious expression on her face. "Then we're not going back," I said, nodding.

"Matt, at least argue against what I said," Sara said. "You can't tell me that you'll stay if you don't want to. Tell me why we have to stay."

I looked back at the kids, who were waving at us. I waved at them as well, smiling at them too to see the looks they would give me.

"Sis is gone," I said solemnly. "They need someone to look after them."

"There are plenty of people here to do that for us," Sara said, confusing me with her seemingly changed opinion, but I picked up on why she was doing it a second later.

Sara was trying to get me to understand exactly why we had to stay behind, but she also wanted to go back home too just as much as I did. She'd made her decision, but she wanted my input as well, hence why she was asking my opinion on why we needed to watch them and not someone else.

"We'd never be able to live with ourselves if we left them to some total stranger," I said. "Sure we'd be safe back at home, but not knowing about them would kill us inside. We'd have to know, so that's why we're going to be the ones who look after them."

"But what about the baby?" Sara asked. "Wouldn't it be safer to bring it back home to operate on? Can we raise a child in a world like this?"

"A rejuvenated world like this? You better believe it, sweetheart. I'll raise the heck out of that kid."

Sara offered a semi-glare at me for my comments.

"Alright, seriously, though, I think we can do it," I said.

"Think?" Sara repeated. "Or know?"

"Definitely know. I don't know why, but I just do. All I know is that as long as I'm with you, then everything will work out, Sara."

She smiled. "Thanks, Matt. But what about your family and my dad? Are we going to let them go on without knowing what happened to us?"

I paused to think about that for a moment. What kind of a heartless son was I that I hadn't at least considered about telling my family about what had happened to us? What could we tell them, especially if we stayed behind?

"I've got it," I said later on. "Shu's for sure going back; I can see it in his eyes. We'll ask him to send a message to our parents."

"But why would they believe him?" Sara asked.

"We'll tell Shu to tell them something that only we could think of or know of," I said, trying to find something that my parents would understand. "I'll ask him to talk to them about the time that you saved my life way back when and make Shu tell them that I offered you a check for whatever you wanted, because no one but us knows about that, well, besides our parents, but who're they going to tell about that? Surely not some little, rascally Japanese kid half a world away."

Sara considered it for a moment. "That would work," she said, nodding gently. "I think that can work, yeah."

"Well that solves that."

"There's one more problem."

"Of course there is. It wouldn't be us without one more problem."

"What are we going to name the baby?"

Honestly I almost laughed then and there. If naming a kid was the only problem I ever had to deal with in my life again, I'd be the happiest man alive in this world of ours, which, coincidentally, I think I am.

Instead, I had the great idea to ask, "Do you think it's a boy or a girl?"

Sara placed a hand on her belly—which was nowhere near showing signs that she was pregnant—and looked down at it. "I think it's a boy," she offered. "It is a boy."

"We could always name him after me. I think it's a good name."

"I was thinking about naming him after his father."

I stopped for a second, listened to what Sara had said in my head one more time, and smiled. "Kazam sounds like a wonderful name to me."

"But what if it's a girl?" Sara asked, smiling at me.

"I think Sis will do nicely. Second-strongest woman I've ever met in my life."

"Oh, really? Who's the first?"

"Take a wild guess," I said.

Sara's smile grew larger. "Flattery will get you nowhere."

I chuckled.

By that time Shu had obviously gotten bored waiting for us to come back to him, so he decided to come to us. "Hey, are you guys ready to leave?" he asked.

Sara and I exchanged glances and I said, "We can't."

Confusion dominated Shu's face. "Huh?"

"We have to stay, Shu," Sara said.

"But why? Don't you want to go back home? I know I do."

"The offer's tempting, Shu, but we can't leave," I said. "We have responsibilities to take care of here."

"Like what? Are you sure you don't want to go back?"

"I'm sure," Sara said, as the kids gathered around us, also tired of waiting for us to finish talking things through alone. "We're going to stay. Our life is here now with my children." She looked down at her belly. "All of my children."

I wrapped my arm around Sara's shoulders and nodded.

"Sara, you know, you once said that I lied to you," Shu said, bringing Sara's attention back to him. "You do remember that, don't you?"

This had obviously been a part of some conversation I hadn't been involved with, so I listened intently to discover what it had been about.

Shu moved closer to Sara's face, determination lording over his voice, "Well, I still believe that I was right," he said. "No matter where you are, whatever troubles you face, as long as you've got your life, something good is bound to happen. Something so totally awesome that would make up for all the bad stuff. Sure it can get pretty tough in the meantime. I don't know how quite to put it, but, well…have a good life."

"Well said, Shu," I said, nodding my head. "Now let's get you back home."

In the inner parts of the destroyed _Hellywood_ the bound system remained one of the few working pieces of the battle station, something I'd tried to make sure would stay so, and Lala-Ru must have done as well, because there was no other explanation for how well it worked.

Shu stood in the middle of the platform that had brought us into the future of our planet, ready to go back home. Sara, the kids, some unpleasant men with guns, and I all stood with Abelia, who was working on the bound system.

"Target coordinates locked," Abelia said.

Shu looked over to Sara and me, and I said, "Be careful, Shu. Remember to tell our parents where we are now and that we're safe."

"I will, Matt," Shu said. "_Nankurunaisa_."

"_Nankurunaisa_," Sara and I said in unison.

Abelia turned to us and said, "He can go at anytime."

Sara nodded and Abelia activated the bound system.

"Beginning transfer," she said.

An orb of light surrounded Shu in a protective bubble, expanded, and soon took him away from the future and back to where he was meant to be. The moment he was gone, however, the aforementioned unpleasant men with guns almost shot Abelia.

"So I guess I've done my part, huh?" Abelia said.

"Nowhere near close enough," I said as Sara lowered the men's weapons with a disapproving look on her face. "So long as you're alive, Abelia, it's up to you to make your own path. You can stay with us if you'd like, or go back home."

"We'll take you in and keep you safe," Sara said.

Abelia's face betrayed her surprise, even though we'd already promised her as much earlier that day. I guess she'd never really believed us before then.

"I have no home to go back to," Abelia said. "If you're serious about your offer, then I shall remain here and keep everyone safe from those who would misuse the powers left inside of _Hellywood_."

"Works fine for us," I said, smiling at her.

Abelia, now a free woman, walked past the guards and left the room that held the bound system behind. To this day she has never set foot within a hundred yards of the once great _Hellywood_, even when I asked her help in working on some of the systems to enable this conversation with you, kid. I can't say that I blame her.

Sara and I stared back at the platform where Shu had been not ten seconds ago and marveled.

"Do you think he'll be able to tell them about us?" Sara asked.

"You bet, sweetheart," I said. "If I know anything about Shu, it's that he's just so stubborn, which means he'll never give up until he does what we asked him."

Sara smiled. "What now?"

"Guess it's time for us to find ourselves a new home. Would you guys like that?"

The kids cheered my decision and hopped around joyfully.

I looked over at Sara and smiled, seeing it returned. The kids cheering in the back of my mind, I leaned in and kissed her, knowing that maybe if everything wasn't going to be perfect in our lives, it could at least give us enough time to find that "Something so totally awesome that would make up for all the bad stuff" that Shu was so fond of talking about to us.

As for me, I found that something two years ago, and as long as she's with me, Sara will always be able to make up for all of the bad stuff in my life. It just took me this long to figure it out.


	30. Chapter 30

A/N: Final chapter is here! Please let me know if there's anything that needs my attention here. Thank you.

Chapter 30

So here I am in the ruins of _Hellywood_, talking into this recorder to, well, record this story for you, kid. I've been healed by Lala-Ru; my heart hasn't bothered me once since she touched me, but that doesn't change the realities we face now. The world may have lost one despot, but history teaches me that another will come to take his place, but not if I have anything to say about it. Sara and I are going to make sure that nothing ever happens to this second chance we've been given…and if that means there's a possibility one of us won't make it to see you grow up, then I've taken this small chance to tell you everything about myself and your mother, even though she's doing the very same thing in the room next to me.

We have no false ideas of immortality now that we've supposedly done our part in this world. There's still a whole lot that needs to be done, and we're the ones who're going to make sure it happens that way, because that's how things are supposed to be in this world…but to be perfectly selfish, I'm doing it mostly to give Sara and you the best and brightest world possible, just in case I should end up dying.

Kazam let me say one last thing about your mother before I start to wrap things up here. I have never met a stronger woman in my life, and I don't think it's even possible for someone else to reach her level of strength. Some people have a false definition of the word "strength," using it to describe people who are physically strong, which is all well and good for the dictionary, but not for life itself. Kazam, true strength comes from being around and facing adversity head on. True strength comes from being stripped away of your very humanity, of everything you've ever known, and being brought to the pit of despair, where it looks like you'll never get out, but then you find a way, using your new wisdom to rediscover who you are and what you need to do to keep yourself and those you love safe. Sara has found the true meaning of strength, and I hope and pray that one day she—if not we—can then impart this wisdom onto you, hopefully in a manner less harmful than the one we endured. Always listen to what she says, son, because trust me when I say that she knows what she's talking about.

This strange new world we've entered is unlike any I've ever encountered before from any source you could name. I've never heard of a world that died with its sun, lost its water, but then gained it all back as a gift from God, who has given all of us a second chance, even a fool like myself, who dared to question His authority. I don't even know if this works, but God bless Him for being able to deal with me, and to even care enough to give me what I needed when I needed it. I think back on all I endured and all the times I begged Him for answers, but never finding any, which I know now is because it wasn't the proper time.

God has a funny way of concealing information when it's not needed, but giving it freely when it is.

It's amazing to think back on the old world, and then to actually look at this new one we've been given. I almost can't even remember what it looked like. Sometimes it's like it never existed in the first place, and all the plants and animals we have now exist as if they'd always been here. Oh, I forgot to mention that, didn't I? Well, apparently just rejuvenating the world with water wasn't enough for Lala-Ru. No, this wonderful angel blessed us with more gifts from the Lord in the shape of flora _and_ fauna. If I couldn't see it with my own two eyes, I don't think I could've believed in it, but there they are, just coming out of nowhere, yet fulfilling the purposes they did back on my world, where the fools there were stupid enough to fight wars over political and religious ideals, when they really should've been worried about losing our precious resources. We are such a stupid race, but don't give up hope for us, son, because we can do as much good to the world that we live on as bad. If someone like Lala-Ru, who hated humans with every part of her being, could find it in her magnificent heart to realize our worth, then I am sure we can all find a way to make sure the work she's done doesn't go to waste and that's a promise.

I can't help but wonder if maybe bringing Shu back to the past could possibly have changed the entire future of our world and that we live in some parallel dimension, but I can't say either way how that worked out. If God wanted it to, then by God it did. If not, then His will, not mine. I still think about Shu every now and then, wondering about the things that he did here and the things he's doing there. I miss him a lot.

I don't think I believe that all of us will come together and start this brand new world properly with a utopia, because I know human nature, and as long as we're still apart from the Lord, we'll always fight, but that doesn't matter to me. All I know is that it will happen, but I'll be there to make sure the damage is less than what it could be. Sara will too, making sure this world paves the path for the new generations—your generation, will find a way to find peace.

I'm going to finish up here, Kazam, so let's end with these last few snippets of my advice.

There is nothing more I love in this world than my family, but, son, you've got to know there's another being out there who's more deserving of your love. Sometimes He doesn't make a lot of sense, and other times it seems like He's singling you out to have every punishment imaginable, but never forget that it's these trials and sufferings we go through that shapes us into the people we become. Love your mother and me with all of your heart, son, but love Him even more. Now and then, here and there, the Lord will always care for His children.

Life has a funny way of screwing you over, kid, but that just means you've got to use that as a means to grow further in your faith and your life. Life has its ups and life has its downs. My personal view is to wait for the good to happen, because a good friend of mine once told us, "_Nankurunaisa_. Things will work out somehow."

I tend to believe in that friend with all of my heart and soul, so in the spirit of his memory I leave you with the last bit of parting wisdom I have.

Life is worth living.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who's stuck with this story from the very beginning. Please let me know how you felt about this, as I would enjoy listening to the ways that this hopefully entertained you. Even if it didn't, please let me know, so that I can change things if necessary. Thank you all once again for everything.


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